American Whist 



G-W-P 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



©litpGM- @twi# ^s.iz:x 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 









i o 1QQ^ 



AMERICAN OR STANDARD WHIST. 



AMERICAN 



OR 



STANDARD WHIST 



BY 

G. W. P. 



^^^ ^ ^Svis^o. 



SIXTH EDITION, REVISED. 






< 




&L 



JAM /r ,J 

BOSTO 
TICKNOR AND COMPANY. 
1886. 



Copyright, 1880, by James* R. Osgood and Company, 

AND 1886, BY TlCKNOR AND COMPANY. 



All rights reserved. 



^niberstto Press: 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Introduction vii 

Preface to Sixth Edition xiii 

American Whist 1 

Laws and Rules 10 

Technical Terms 27 

The Game . . ' 34 

The Laws 35 

The Lead ...... 41 

Original Trump Lead 45 

Original Lead in Plain Suits 49 

Second Hand 66 

Third Hand . . . '. 59 

Fourth Hand 60 

"Cavendish" XXV., English Play 65 

1 'Cavendish" XXV., American Play 68 

Inferences 72 

Whist Theory 77 

Whist Practice 91 

Underplay 155 

False Cards 156 

The Eleventh 157 

The Twelfth 158 

The Thirteenth 159 

Finesse 160 

Trumps 107 



vi Contents. 



Examples and Overplay 186 

Game of " J. C." and Overplay 201 

Hand I. of "Cavendish" . . 208 

Hand of "Cavendish," Overplay 210 

Hand XXXVIII., "Cavendish" 214 

Hand XXXVIII., " Cavendish," Overplay . . 217 

"Cavendish" 219 

Laws and Principles of Whist 219 

Examples at Close of Games 228 

" Card Essays, Clay's Decisions, and Card Table 

Talk 4 ' 235 

"J. C." 23"8 

Pole . 250 

Walker 258 

Drayson 263 



INTRODUCTION. 



Whist is the best game of mingled skill aud 
chance ever devised. All others, by comparison, 
are within narrow bounds. Brief practice and 
slight acquaintance with rules easily learned, will 
enable men to play them. Whist is limitless. It 
is always presenting new situations. It is a theme 
for constant study. "Whist is a language, and 
every card played an intelligible sentence " to 
those who will work out its problems and under- 
stand its regulations that are as guides to the 
betrayal of its interesting possibilities. 

Something of the extent of its great variety will 
be apparent when we consider that, if we play ten 
thousand games, no one of all the hands held is 
like to any other, and that each is full of its own 
suggestions and appeals to the exercise of our 
observation and ingenuity. The smallest card of 
a plain suit led at the commencement of a game 
says : " This hand has not five trumps, nor has it 
five cards of any suit. It has not an ace and king, 



viii Introduction. 



nor a king and queen, nor a tierce to a queen or 
knave." At another time, the same card says : 
" There were five of this suit, of which one has 
been played, and it is now strong for service." 
And again it says : " Play a trump to this hand, 
for it will take the responsibility of the game." 
And yet again: "There were four trumps here 
when you called, and two remain to help you." 
Not one of all the fifty-two cards that has not 
information to give, various but definite, in ac- 
cordance with the occasion that demands its use. 

To read this language; to thwart the thus ex- 
pressed purpose of antagonists ; to advance his own 
forces in conformity with most orderly tactics and 
ingenious strategy, and to assist the plans of his 
partner determined on victory, is the business of 
the model whist-player, and it calls into action, 
in a remarkable manner, his ascendency of mem- 
ory, judgment, and skill. 



The Game of Whist, as played about a century 
since, was, in value of count, ten points, to be 
gained by tricks taken and "honors" held. We 
learn, from a treatise by a prominent member of 
an existing club, why this count was changed in 
England : " Lord Peterborough having one night 
lost a large sum of money, the friends with whom 



Introduction. xi 



as principle in play, repudiating acquaintance with 
gambling and its attendant evils, for these would 
harm their intellectual entertainment at the social 
and the literary clubs and by their household 
fires, 



PREFACE 

TO THE SIXTH EDITION, 



"American Whist" was originally planned and 
written for the edification and use of a coterie of 
fine players who loved the game for its own in- 
trinsic merit. Of their own volition they had 
thrown aside the rules which were applicable to 
a hurried use of cards that did not demand con- 
centration of thought so much as dependence upon 
luck. They repudiated Short Whist, which was a 
contraction of original Long Whist, and which re- 
tained the " honors " at their full valuation. Long 
Whist had been played in America without the 
" honors " for many years, and the status of 
the game was fixed at seven points ; but when the 
seven points were made, the game was over. It 
will be remembered that the old game in England 
was one of ten points; and in one hand six of 
these could be made by cards and four by honors. 
At that time the deuces were not used in play. 
These were afterward introduced, and the u odd 



xiv Preface to Sixth Edition. 

card " became a matter of reckoning. The game 
of Long Whist, without honors, in America was 
made seven points, because in one hand a game 
might be won by the taking of every trick. The 
only difference in manner of count between this 
Long Whist and the Long Whist, or American 
Whist, of to-day is, that games, and not points, 
were essential ; that is, the number of games won 
or lost were named, while the actual number of 
points that were made and lost in each rubber 
played were not kept as the evidence of result. 
In American Whist every card of every hand is 
played. A and B may make six by cards in 
one hand, and then six more, it may be, in the 
next, and count twelve points to their credit, and 
but one game. 

"American Whist " was put into general circu- 
lation by its publishers, and, as a text-book and 
authority, five editions have been exhausted. 
Since its publication, four years ago, whist has 
made advances. One of the marked improve- 
ments is the now universal practice of the lead 
of the fourth card in the suit from the ace if the 
lead of that suit is made the second time, the ace 
having first been played. The English players 
were very slow to adopt American leads, but they 
have at last been obliged to do so. 



Preface to Sixth Edition. xv 



Another improvement is the recognition of the 
value of the 9, formerly a meaningless card when 
led, but now the only one used as an original lead 
which can have but a single meaning. Drayson, 
of London, in a recent letter to the "Field/' claims 
the credit of making the play of the fourth card 
an original lead. The lead of the penultimate 
under certain conditions of the hand held, and 
the lead of the fourth card from the ace, the ace 
having been first thrown, are of American origin, 
and, like many other improvements in the play 
of Whist which were discovered and adopted 
here, have been forced upon the English prac- 
tice. Drayson may as well claim the new and 
excellent finesse, the third-hand play of the 10 
when king and one or two small cards are held, 
or the lead of the 9 when king and knave are 
held. 

Another improvement is the refusal of second 
hand to play an honor, not a sure taking card, 
upon an honor led. The English players were 
very reluctant to obey this important regulation ; 
but they have put in print, not that American 
players have shown them their mistake, but that 
"recent investigations have proved that queen 
second, or king second, on knave led, is not the 
best play." 



xvi Preface to Sixth Edition. 

The best players, of course, desire to play Amer- 
ican Whist; and the knowledge and practice of 
that game is constantly on the increase. But 
Whist without honors and for five points is 
played at the clubs because at tables formed of 
six players the rubbers of American Whist are 
much too long. For the same reason the English 
score is kept, the game closing at five points. To 
this five-point game the leads and play and very 
many of the rules of American Whist may be 
applied, to the great advantage of the partici- 
pants. It is only a question of time as to the 
introduction into the English clubs of a new set of 
laws. The Baldwin rules are outgrown, and were 
ever of poor selection. Taken mainly from Des- 
chapelles, but without due consideration of -their 
bearing upon the French game, and separated 
from the context, they have furnished opportu- 
nity for " decisions " without number. But when 
the code is newly made, it must be framed, as 
now, for the benefit of men who play Whist, not 
for the delight and recreation that the game itself 
affords, but for the money that is staked upon its 
result. 

Attention is called to comments upon certain 
parts of the text of this and former editions of 
"American Whist." 



Preface, to Sixth Edition. xvii 

A, p. 3. The fifteenth edition of u Cavendish " 
is out, differing very slightly from those preceding 
it. He has accepted American leads in his letters 
to the " Field," in his lectures at the Whist-rooms, 
and in a book that he has recently published ; but 
in his last edition of his one informatory work 
he refrains from a mention of " N. B. T.," of New 
Orleans, to whom for many original ideas, not 
only "Cavendish," but the Whist world, are so 
greatly indebted. 

B, p. 5. Five-point Whist has come into vogue 
with many clubs for several reasons. First, a 
great many players are not able as yet to play the 
better game; second, the natural disposition to do 
all things in a hurry will not be rebuked by ra- 
tional enjoyment ; third, a fifth or a sixth player, 
or both, wait to make up the new table; and, 
fourth, the five-point game does not insist upon 
silence, and so partakes somewhat of the free- 
dom that is used at any game of cards with 
which the players may be familiar. Add to this 
the veneration of certain Americans for the 
opinions of people on the other side of the 
water, and the reasons are given for five points 
that are Anglicized over seven points that are 
Americanized. 

C, p. 1G. The third reason above given is that 

6 



xviii Preface to Sixth Edition. 

most commonly in use by good players at the 
clubs of the five-point game. These players do 
not conform altogether to the English laws, but 
adapt, as well as they can make them fit, the 
regulations of Long Whist. Although they do not 
play out all the cards, nor in any wise obtain from 
the play of the last ones held the very best issues 
of which Whist is capable, still they do not follow, 
in certain positions of the game, the directions of 
the Short Whist play. 

D, p. 42. When three cards in all plain suits 
and four trumps are held, the queen, the best of 
any three, is a good lead. 

E, p. 43. This, of course, in the absence of ace 
and queen. 

F, p. 50. Having thrown king and knave, the new 
American play when you continue the suit is : Ace, 
if you have no more of the suit below the knave ; 
queen, if you have more. Your partner will un- 
derstand the state of your hand by this play. 

G, p. 52. From this double tenace, if it can 
properly be avoided, no lead should be made, espe- 
cially if there is reason to believe the suit will be 
led on the left. If the ace is led, it determines 
that trick; but if either queen or 10 is led, you 
remain with a tenace which the ace lead, of course, 
would break. 



Pre/act to Sixth Edition. xix 

H, p. 53. The head, unless the ace, of any se- 
quence is the best card to lead, and the lowest of 
any sequence is the best card to follow. 

I, p. 54. The 9, as an original lead in trumps 
or plain suits, signifies king and knave. It is 
perhaps the best lead that can be made from any 
hand ; it makes its proclamation, and opens the 
game at once for partner and opponent. The lead 
of the lowest card from ace, knave, and two small 
ones; of king when queen, 10, etc., are held; of 
knave when king, queen, and two others are 
held; and of queen at head of sequence, — are 
all good openings. 

J, p. 56. Consulting the score in American 
Whist is of far less importance than in the Short, 
or five-point, game, because you play for all that 
you can make. There are times when the state 
of the score may justify hazardous play. True, 
you play for all the points; but the beauty of 
good Whist consists in the manner of making 
these, and you may risk a loss to make a gain 
when the gain will turn a pretty evenly balanced 
scale. 

K, p. 72. The score is again alluded to, and 
for the same reason as that given above. Al- 
though the parties are playing for points first 
of all, the game that makes the rubber finishes 



xx Preface to Sixth Edition. 

that count, and there will be endeavor made to 
get it. 

L, p. 73. We have already explained the play 
of ace, queen, and 10. The English play does not 
admit of the 10 as the lead at the head of a se- 
quence, but that card may be utterly hampered if 
it cannot be so played. The 10 in Short Whist 
may be led as lowest of a sequence. The 9 in 
Short Whist is not considered of account ; it may 
mean something or nothing. It is truly a card of 
too much importance for us not to give it a proper 
place. 

M, p. 140. The practice of trump signalling is 
not as much respected as it formerly was. 
Many players have two good reasons to give why 
they do not use it, — first, they can manage to get 
in and lead trumps if they want them played; 
second, they want to play higher cards second 
hand than they would dare to do if a signal by 
such play was to be suspected. Some very good 
players have yet another reason. They intend to 
give out by their play, not to be understood by 
the opponents, if they care to have trumps led, — 
for instance, through a king or queen turned on 
the right ; and a good partner can so understand 
good play. It is not at all because the play is a 
signal, that it meets objection ; but because it is, 



Introduction, ix 



he was playing proposed to make the game five 
points instead of ten, in order to give the loser a 
chance, at a quicker game, of recovering his loss. 
The new game was found to be so lively, and 
money changed hands with such increased rapid- 
ity, that these gentlemen and their friends, all of 
them leading members of the clubs of the day, 
continued to play it." We are not informed how 
Lord Peterborough personally was pleased with 
the new game, since, because of the dimidiative 
process, he might have been more speedily than 
before deprived of his guineas ; but it matters not. 
So that money changed liands rapidly, the English- 
men were delighted. 

The great English player, " J. C," when defend- 
ing his system, made comparison : " French players 
are dangerously addicted to false cards, and the 
Americans rarely play the right card, if they have 
one to play which is likely to deceive everybody." 
His comments were only too true, and their sever- 
ity was felt by the clubs, who took counsel and 
determined no longer to deserve it. Players ap- 
plied themselves to the learning of English and 
French Whist, read what they could obtain of Des- 
chapelles and his school, and became familiar with 
the creeds of " J. C." and " Cavendish," as contrasted 
with those of Hoyle and Matthews. They let 



x Introduction. 



fall the dogmas once held in regard, and adopted 
the choicest maxims of the English code. But 
they had an undercurrent system of their own, 
and in its working they placed confidence. Their 
game was Long Whist, and they would not relin- 
quish the satisfaction afforded by a well-fought 
battle that might demand an hour of continuance. 
They had not a monetary inducement to hasten 
such a game. 

Every English book upon Whist treats of betting 
and gaming. Players in America, who had studied 
the game and loved it for employ of intellectual 
strength, were disgusted with this desecration, for 
they knew that, if properly understood and played, 
it would, by virtue of its intrinsic merit, take pre- 
cedence of all description of genuine card amuse- 
ment. They also saw, despite the well-planned 
theories for fine play, that at times the English 
game possessed the elements of finish before it 
was begun, and decided that "honors," so-called, 
should have no place in their reckoning, and that, 
in order to win a game by playing of a single 
hand, every trick must be taken. Giving all credit 
to the master player and compiler, " Cavendish/' 
for his exhaustive work, inventive and directive, 
they accepted such instructions and adopted such 
rules as were consistent with what they designated 



Preface to Sixth Edition. xxi 

or may be, too plain to opponents who are watch- 
ing for it, and because the making it may hinder 
better play. All card-playing at Whist is signal- 
ling. The king played, signals queen or ace; the 
knave played, heralds the royal family; the ace 
led. signals the highest of five; the deuce led, sig- 
nals the lowest of four. The cards do all the talk- 
ing, and. tl^ey talk incessantly. The business of 
the players is to watch their signals ; he is a 
shrewd observer who can see them all. 

N, p. 163. The ordinary player, holding ace, 
queen, always finesses queen third hand, and sel- 
dom or never finesses anything else. The ace, 
knave ; the king, 10 ; the queen, 9, or 8, etc., — are 
tenaces that may be used for finesse when the 
partner leads a small card of the suit. The new 
finesse — if a recently established play may be so 
termed of the 10 when king and others are held 
— has met approval; and it is excellent play, 
particularly if third-hand player is strong in 
trumps. It is the practice of ordinary players to 
avoid finesse upon the partner's play. Holding, 
for instance, king, 10, 9, and another, they would 
unhesitatingly throw king, no matter what small 
cards formed the lead and follow, never thinking 
that the lead may be from ace or queen or knave, 
and that second hand may hold any one of those 



xx ii Preface to Sixth Edition. 

cards, and also that ace may be drawn by the play 
of the 9, and that ace on the left must take then 
or afterward. When should third hand finesse if 
not upon partner's lead ? Beside, one of the great 
benefits that corne from a lost finesse is the throw- 
ing of the lead. 



AMERICAN WHIST.* 



American or Standard Whist is founded upon 
English Short Whist, as that was founded upon 
the methods of Hoyle and Deschapelles, and as 
that generally accepted mode was rife with changes 
of, and advantages over, its models, so is the more 
perfect game an improvement upon the require- 
ments of its immediate predecessor. It has come 
to be a matter of slightest consequence how the 
"Compleat Gamester" spelled its name, or how 
any gamester spelled or spells the name of the 
delightful pastime which has taken its place at the 
head of all table amusements. 



* The great game of whist is called American to distinguish 
it from the French and English games, and, as it does away 
with honors, it is also apart from the original "Long" Whist. 
Some parties, not liking the designations, "Long" or "Short," 
hope that the best society in France and England, when they 
shall have become satisfied of its superiority, will play this game 
of seven points, and propose to style it "Standard Whist." 



American Whist. 



The superior accomplishment that is called 
American Whist has small regard for the buried 
past of card history. The books that have been 
written and compiled upon whist are few in num- 
ber. All that antedate " Cavendish " are set aside 
because that able writer and excellent player has 
introduced into his compendium the written opin- 
ions of all earlier authors which were of service in 
the organization of English Short Whist. We 
have not therefore to go to the books to under- 
stand that Whist is of ancient origin and that 
Hoyle and Matthews gave laws observable some- 
what later than their day, because what they or 
their predecessors did or said concerning it, is of 
little moment among the players of the present 
authorized practical game. We have in kind re- 
membrance the sayings of Mrs. Battle as recorded 
by Charles Lamb, and the rebukes of Napoleon by 
the king at Wiirtemburg when wilfully or other- 
wise he committed errors. But the policy and 
plan of their playing has all passed. It is to the 
game of the present that Talleyrand's mot to one 
who did not regret his own ignorance may most 
happily apply : " Vous ne savez pas done le whiste, 
jeune homme ? Quelle triste vieillesse vous vous 
preparez ! " Setting aside, therefore, as obsolete 
the old doctrines, and even repudiating the laws in 



American Whist, 



part of the great player Deschapelles, we propose 
to tell of the game as recognized since James Clay 
published in 18G4 an essay entitled " Short Whist." 
This was the first or of the first of treatises which 
have appeared in*the interest of the game now 
played in England. It was followed by a " Theory ; ' 
by William Pole, and a book of questions and an- 
swers by Captain A. C. Walker, entitled "The 
Correct Card." " Cavendish on Whist " had already 
appeared, and, at the date of Clay's publication, 
had reached some few editions, but its recent Lon- 
don issue in 1876 indicates as errors, statements 
which the former issues approved, and is to-day 
far eminence, the standard book on English Whist.* 
We do not care to give reasons or make arguments 
pro or con having reference to the game that once 
was played, nor to make comparisons of modes, 
save only of those which have their present advo- 
cates, and which, after all, though extenuated to 
license, do not greatly affect the manner of play 
of a well-informed man concerning the Cavendish 
method. 

The first consideration why whist stauds de- 
servedly at the head of all games of cards is, that 

* Two editions have since been published, but they are i 

identical with the eleventh. 1SS5. — Two more editions have 
now been published. See Preface, A. 



American Whist. 



each card, as it falls from the player's hand, con- 
veys information. "With his own intelligence he 
endows it, and it accurately fulfils its mission. This 
statement will have a strange sound for the man 
uneducated in the game * who flatters himself he 
san play whist, while he cannot read the language 
that is spoken by any of the cards as they fall 
upon the table of the club. But it will be under- 
stood by the lover and player of the true game, 
whose interest centres upon the fact. 

There are but two legitimate methods of count- 
ing the game: first, English Short Whist, in which 
honors are reckoned and five points make the 
game ; second, American Whist, in which honors 



* "Do you play whist, sir ? " inquired an individual of most 
respectable appearance, who, cards in hand, approached a gen- 
tleman enjoying his cigar at the rear of the smoking car. 
"Certainly," was the reply. "All right. Will you join the 
table ? We want one more." "Do you all play a good game ? " 
asked the gentleman. "Oh, yes; they're all first-rate. We 
always play on the train, sometimes all the way to New York." 
" I would enjoy a good game," said the gentleman, "but allow me 
to ask, as there is a difference of opinion upon these matters, do 
you play the call and echo, and hold the twelfth and thirteenth 
for a purpose?" "The what?" asked the puzzled applicant. 
"Do you sometimes finesse ace, knave, or throw the lead to 
save the tenace?" "The which ?" "Do you make your leads 
from long suits and give special attention to the management of 
trumps ? " " Oh ! yes, yes ! I understand now. We cut for 
trump, and then chuck it into the pack and deal." 



A vt erica u Whist. 



are not reckoned and seven points make the game.* 
It libbers are a consequence in both cases. Indi- 
vidual scores may be kept. The Cavendish rules 
ID the main apply to each. The American game 
gives more latitude for play, and insists on certain 
leads not set down by the English method. 

In either case no deviation is made in the rule 
for the last card of the deal to act as trump and to 
be turned, such innovations as the cutting the 
trump from another pack or the hiding the trump 
in the playing pack, being of course rejected. In 
truth, each player forms more or less his plan of 
play upon the card, no matter what its denomina- 
tion, that is turned as trump. Much of the nicety 
of calculation based upon the trump exhibit would 
be lost by any mode other than that which allows 
each dealer in turn to show and to hold the trump 
card. 

Lest it may seem to players of accord with the 
English method that the term American Whist may 
lack significance, it may be asserted that at many 
of the literary and some of the social clubs, and by 
very many devotees at sessions in their residences, 



* Dummy Whist, single or double, is but a practice game ; the 
five-point game without honors is but a bad imitation of English 
Whist ; and the ten-point game with honors is nearly obsol 

iE. — See Preface to Sixth Edition, B. 



American Whist. 



the so-called American game has utter precedence. 
One real reason for its adoption is, that one party 
must take every trick, in order to win by a single 
hand, in contra-distinction to the English game, in 
which it frequently happens that a single player, 
upon taking up his cards, could surely count four 
honors and the odd trick. It is, therefore, not con- 
ceded that a game is fully played which can be 
foreshortened by frequent strokes of fortune. 

" Honors" are neither counted nor named. There 
are "high cards" the nine to the ace inclusive, and 
"low cards," the eight to the deuce inclusive. The 
management of trumps differs from that required 
by English law, as in the longer game there is 
much more room for display of skill in their use. 
The " revoke " which can by English rule be prac- 
tised with impunity even to its repetition in the 
same hand is, if not positively accidental, a misde- 
meanor by American law which will in no wise 
compromise with deceit. American Whist assumes 
at the outset and always, that whosoever takes 
part in its play is incapable of ungentlemanly 
deportment. We have no more necessity for a 
written whist etiquette, than we have for a written 
pulpit etiquette. Its order of leads is different 
from the English plan, for experience has coun- 
selled change. The lead of the nine is an Amer- 



American Whist. 



ican invention, and we regard it as the most 
important of all leads, and in its working it accom- 
plishes most interesting results. We insist upon 
playing the game in silence. This is among the 
great gains that we claim over the English method. 
Concerning it an eminent citizen writes, " I agree 
with your correspondent that great good can be 
done in this and in every community by the prop- 
agation of such sentiments as are conveyed in the 
rules for American whist, and it strikes me, an old 
whist-player, so favorably that I want to know 
more of and about it. I heartily approve those 
golden words, ■ Whist is the game of silence.' My 
plans and memories at the table have been all too 
frequently disturbed or banished by the contemp- 
tible calling of cards and silly quarrels about re- 
vokes." 

And a humorous professor in a neighboring uni- 
versity who has thrown aside the English game 
says : " One can no more play whist and talk, than 
he can translate Ovid and turn somersaults at the 
same time. Playing whist as I now play it is a 
luxury." 

American Whist eliminates the features of the 
English game not recognizable here as of avail, the 
counting of honors and the gambling propensity. 
It deprecates the shouting at the table upon every 



8 American Whist. 

occasion of misplay or accident. Its laws are few, 
complete in themselves, and easily understood. 
The "cases" that constantly give rise to misun- 
derstandings and quarrel cannot occur. It recog- 
nizes no injustice in motive or digression from 
positive right in action. 

It accepts all that has value for the best interest 
of the game that is embodied in all the regulations 
adopted by the English savants. It provides for 
the misfortune attendant upon the deprivation of 
high cards and many trumps in any one playing 
hand, by the requirement that, as all the tricks 
must be taken to make a complete game from the 
start, a chance is, or chances are, afforded to the 
party in arrears. It is the English game of whist 
improved, very greatly improved. To those who 
will study and analyze and compare the two sys- 
tems, its great superiority over English Whist will 
be undeniably apparent. 

To play whist well requires good judgment, a 
just memory, close observation, quick inference, 
and a knowledge of the rules. Circumstances alter 
cases, never so much in any game as in this. The 
laws must be obeyed, but the directions for the 
lead and follow are not arbitrary. The player fre- 
quently accepts situations which no rule antici- 
pates. Study of the books and of the cards is a 



American Whist. 



necessity and will effect much, but the cards are 
changed with each successive deal. Great players 
are those who know the rules to practice them, and 
also know when they are 

M More honored in the breach than the observance." 

Whist is not unlike politics. Thousands upon 
thousands take part in the game. Complications 
are constantly presented. Few of all the players 
see the end from the beginning. All are ready to 
give advice and assert opinions. The contestants 
are many. The statesmen are few. 



LAWS AND RULES. 



The laws and rules of Whist as per the English 
method, are verbose and voluminous, in common 
with all things English of a legal character. 
American Whist simmers these down, as referees, 
dispensing with technicalities, determine cases 
upon their merits. The English code would seem 
to be founded upon the broad principle that every 
man must be closely watched, that he may take 
advantage whenever and wherever he can do so, 
and that, as disputes will constantly occur, strict 
regulations to meet each supposable case must be 
provided. We draw our inferences as to whether 
it is for the love of the game, and in the light of 
that love, that many of the laws are enacted, or 
whether the passion for gaming * and the love of 
the money 'that is lost or won induced them. If 

* Betting, says a London correspondent, is the custom of the 
country, and the business of the clubs. Bets are made upon all 
subjects, and at all times. It would seem as if nothing goes 
without a bet. Men bet upon the holding or playing of a given 
card, upon the pace of a given horse, upon the length of a 
friend's finger-nail, and the number of screws in his coffin. 



Laws and Rules. 1 1 

but the high honor of the game was to be consid- 
ered, what need for a counterfeit code of etiquette 
to read : " A player who desires the cards to be 
placed, or who demands to see the last trick, or 
who asks what the trump suit is, should do so for 
his own information only, and not in order to in- 
vite the attention of his partner." " Until the 
players have made such lets as they wish, bets 
should not be made with bystanders." " No one 
should look over the hand of a player against whom 
he is betting" And if it is for whist and its tone 
and credit that men play, what need of Eule 88? 
" If a bystander make any remark which calls the 
attention of a player or players to an oversight 
affecting the score (of course between deals, or at 
any time), he is liable to be called upon, by the 
players only, to pay the stakes and all bets on that 
game or rubber." 

The difference between American Whist and the 
manner of playing it and English Whist and the 
manner of playing it seems to be, that we care- 
fully and honestly play the cards for all that they 
are worth, two of the players expecting and receiv- 
ing at the hands of their opponents the fairest 
treatment, while each party is striving, by the aid 
of memory, judgment, and observation, to place his 
almost animate messengers in advance of those of 



1 2 American Whist. 

his adversary; while the English game declares 
hostility between the players, constant expectancy 
that something may be done that can challenge dis- 
pute, and great satisfaction if cause exists for the 
exaction of penalty. And so the inference to be 
drawn from some of the rules of English clubs is, 
that somebody is attempting to obtain undue 
advantage, and his opponent must be on the per- 
petual look-out for him. " The cards must not be 
shuffled under the table." Eule 26. What fair- 
minded man of sense ever thought of such a thing 
as doing it ? The rule would be as kindly received 
by us if it read, " The cards must not be shuffled 
in the coal scuttle or in the back yard wood-bin." 

" If the dealer take the trump card into his hand 
before it is his turn to play, he may be desired to 
lay it on the table; should he show a wrong card, 
that card may be called, as also a second, a third, 
until the trump card be produced." Eule 54. What 
gentleman would show a wrong card, a second, and 
a third ? 

The current odds at Short Whist are given in 
" J. C.'s " book that the " good players who," ac- 
cording to Dr. Pole, "generally (in England) like 
to play for stakes high enough to define well the 
interest taken in the game " may understand how 
to place their extra money. " Not for gain? says 



Laws "and Rules. 1 3 

the conscientious Dr. Pole, " only high enough to 
define well their interest' 1 Probably Lord Peter- 
borough was anxious to attach a lofty definition to 
his " interest in the game." 

"Cavendish," in "Card Essays" tells us, with 
admirable philosophy, where interest ends and 
gambling begins : — 

" As long as it is a matter of indifference to those 
engaged whether they win or lose the amount staked, 
having regard also to their expectation in a series, so 
long are they without the pale of gambling. The 
moment any anxiety is felt as to the result, the sooner 
the stakes are reduced the better. It is clear that if 
half-starved Arabs toss for coppers they are gambling. 
It is equally clear that if two well-to-do friends toss 
which of them shall pay for a split brandy and sc la, 
they are not gambling. To pursue this still further : 
If a clerk, earning a hundred a year, backs his fancy for 
the Derby for ten pounds, he is gambling ; but if a 
wealthy owner of race horses puts the same sum on his 
favorite two-year-old, he is not gambling. To the one 
ten pounds is an object ; to the other it is a mere trifle." 

This pliant information, savoring of cockpit logic, 
makes us all the time fearful that by some Peck- 
sniffian legality we are to be overreached. Poor 
little Tom, who cracks the lid of his brother's boot- 
black case and says a naughty word, is swearing, 
and must be called to strict account, but the burly 



14 A merican Whist. 

baggage smasher may send forth his volley of oaths 
over the wreck of the mammoth " Saratoga," and 
he is not swearing. Little Tom can only affect 
the atmosphere at the comer of the lane, but 
brazen Ben can make the air blue on both sides 
of the station. The double-bass is authorized to 
launch curses and trunks promiscuously from car 
to platform, while the moral responsibility of being 
profane attaches only to the poor little contralto 
who breaks a homely box. 

Among the laws of Short Whist, framed by the 
committee of the Portland and Arlington clubs, 
and edited by John Loraine Baldwin, it is written : 
"Should the players on loth sides subject them- 
selves to the penalty of one or more revokes, neither 
can win the game; each is punished at the dis- 
cretion of his adversary." We have no comments 
to offer upon this depravity by rule. 

A revoke made among good and proper players 
seldom happens, and whenever such an accident 
occurs with us, the shame of the offender is hard 
punishment. 

What from the surroundings are we led to ex- 
pect when it seems necessary to remind players in 
what is called the etiquette of whist, that " no 
intimation whatever by word or gesture should be 
given by a player as to the state of his hand or of 



Laws a)id Rules. 15 

the game"? It is proper to guard against and 
take penalties for accidental errors, but in the mat- 
ter of consistent courtesy, what gentleman requires 
or would brook such reminder ? Laws and rules 
are for instruction as to what is best for the game's 
action ; the possession of the sense of moral recti- 
tude should be conceded. 

And inference gives place to information when 
we read, " a card or cards torn or marked must be 
either replaced by agreement or new cards called 
at the expense of the table." Eule 90. Then " the 
table " continues after ascertaining that cards have 
been torn or marked. With the knowledge of the 
fraud, " the table " plays with the perpetrator. 

The fact is, the money is up, and the game is 
diamond cut diamond. The English club players 
(from their own written statements this conclusion 
must be formed) play whist for money, or for the 
enjoyment of the excitement of its exchange, not 
for whist. They want a short game, in which six 
persons in turn take part, upon which they can 
place their stakes and make their bets. Six times 
twenty guineas may change hands in all the sit- 
ting. " Money changes hands witli such increased 
rapidity " that they play the long game no more. 
When Dr. Pole says, " Good players generally like 
to play for stakes high enough to define well the 



1 6 A merican Whist. 

interest taken in the game," he adds, to blunt the 
edge of forced assertion, "but the idea of gain, 
which is the essential feature of gambling, enters 
as little into the mind of a whist as of a chess 
player." Very likely, if the chess-player also 
plays for " enough to define well his interest." If 
a man puts up money on a game, or on any detail 
of it, what does enter into his mind? The idea 
of loss, perhaps. 

Now, we do not choose to place a money value 
upon our interest in the game which for itself we 
prize, and so it does not follow that we show our 
hands, as at poker, and pretend that we are playing 
whist. Whist, with us, is an entertainment of the 
brain. With the belief that the great game can be 
played upon its merits, American Whist selects as 
a part of its code of laws only those excellent ones 
from the list of the authorized committee and 
specified by " Cavendish," who is the best mouth- 
piece of the law-givers, that affect its honesty and 
glory. It applies these definitely to the seven- 
point game, and in the adoption of it does away 
with the swift opportunities of chance that "honors" 
give. It plays seven points instead of five to make 
it a necessity that every trick shall be taken, if in 
a single hand a game is played.* 

The laws of Short Whist are ninety-one in num- 

* See Preface to Sixth Edition, C. 



Lazvs and Rules. 17 

ber, as printed by Mr. Baldwin with a flourish of 
names of committee-men, and copied into American 
reprints of English ideation. In accordance with 
the decision of fine American players for the proper 
purposes of the best game of whist, less than one- 
fifth that number meet all requirements. The 
recent publication of " Card Essays " by Henry 
Jones (" Cavendish ") is in good time for the con- 
firmation of our statements respecting the value of 
the English code. He says : — 

The laws of whist, though very good in the princi- 
ples on which they are based, are, it must be confessed, 
loosely worded. It is to be hoped that some day the 
drafting may be reconsidered. If this were done, with 
the consent of the clubs that have adopted the laws 
(which one would think could readily be obtained), a 
boon would be conferred on whist-players. 

I could give many instances of bad drafting, but, 
as this is not the place for criticism on the laws of 
whist, report only two, forwarded by a humorous friend, 

S P , with a hope that the wording of our 

whist code might be revised. 

" I have been considerably irritated of late by a Mr. 
Muff, a, practical joker, who, if he had only read the 
instructions of ' Cavendish ' as carefully as he reads the 
rules, might some day play one card of three correctly. 

II It was only the other day Mr. Muff was dealing, 
when his partner exclaimed: 'You have misdealt. 1 
He replied : ' I am certain I have not ; ' and proceede J 

2 



1 8 American Whist. 

deliberately to count the cards remaining in his hand. 
I exclaimed: 'Now, you have made a misdeal of it/ 
' No, I have not/ he replied ; ' fetch the rules ; ' and, 
sure enough, he not being under the impression that he 
had made a mistake (Law 44, par. 5) when he counted 
the cards, I could not claim a misdeal, but could only 
look severe and feel that I had been sold. 

" I trusted that the dignified silence with which I 
accepted his reading of the rules would have made 
some impression on him. Vain hope! A few days 
afterward he was again my opponent (the only piece 
of luck I had had that day), when his partner called 
attention to the trick by drawing his card toward him 
before Mr. Muff had played. I required the latter to 
play the highest of his suit. He played a small one, 
and presently one higher. c Well/ said I, ' I shall 
claim a revoke presently, if required.' 'You may 
claim as much as you like/ said he, ' but you cannot 
enforce it/ 'We shall see/ I rejoined. We won 
the game on the hand, and> as they were at love, 
there was no necessity for claiming the penalty ; but, 
thinking that for once I knew the rules better than he, 
I called for the code, and placed Eule 61 before him. 
' Can 't you read ? ' he said. \ I am not a player who 
has rendered himself liable ; it was my partner who ren- 
dered me liable to have my highest card called. You 
have no penalty for my disobedience, save only that of 
not playing with me again. But please don't do that, 
for I have got one or two more sells for you, and in 
time you 11 know the rules.' 

" I was so vexed I almost revoked next hand, and 



Laws and Rules. 19 

have ever since prayed that some Solon or Lycurgus 
would arise and revise our whist laws." 

Law 33 always amuses me hugely. It informs us 
that 'Each player deals in his turn.' This looks like a 
bit of dry humor, especially as the law continues, — 
' The right of dealing goes to the left, 1 reminding one of 
the rule of the road — 

* If you go to the left, you are sure to go right. 
If you go to the right you go wrong.' 

Law 84, limiting the power of consultation between 
partners, gives rise to numerous arguments and queries. 
After vainly endeavoring to make it clear to two friends, 
B. and S., that they were at liberty to consult as to 
which of them shall exact the penalty, but that they 
must not consult as to which penalty it is advisable to 
exact, B. said : 'I suppose I am very dense, but for the 
life of me I cannot understand it now.' ' No more can 
1/ said S. ; ' the laws of whist seem to me to have been 
invented for the express purpose of puzzling people ! ' 

Some of the laws certainly might be made more 
clear, and I quite agree with S P , that revi- 
sion at the hands of a modern Solon or Lycurgus is 
desirable. 

" Cavendish" does not recognize his chapter upon 
card table talk as the proper place for criticism 
on the laws of whist, and does but expose a small 
part of the stupidity that characterizes this law- 
yer's code of technicalities. How the incongruous 



2 o A merican Whist. 

matter could have controlled the actions of respect- 
able members of respectable clubs for the space of 
fifteen years, is as strange as that it should be 
adopted in this country by men competent to read 
its fallacy. 

Some one has said that there was no difficulty, 
if an effort was made, in obtaining signatures to 
a petition, no matter how unreasonable its intent. 
Let but one well-known signature be had, and 
none who were asked, refused. And also, that if 
on the morrow a counter-petition was presented, 
the same men, by force of habit, would sign that 
also. It would seem as if Baldwin "made his 
effort," obtaining the name of Bentinck, and, see- 
ing that name, Bushe, Clay, and others followed. 
What a pity that the counter-petition was not the 
next day circulated ! 

Or it may be that in a general committee of the 
whole, each and all made suggestions that were 
intended to cover special crises, and as these were 
ventilated they were adopted as rules. Including 
the "etiquette," there are about an hundred of 
these, and to the strictures that " Cavendish " makes 
concerning them, we add a few comments. Thir- 
teen rules, with divisions and references elsewhere, 
are required to inform of the nature of and pen- 
alty for a revoke, and after all this verbiage upon 



Laws and Rules. 2 1 

the merest self-evident proposition, we find, as an 
extra clause of "etiquette/' this surprising para- 
graph:— 

"It is unfair to revoke purposely ; having made a 
revoke, a player is not justified in making a second in 
order to conceal the first." 

This is certainly cool etiquette. "It is rather 
wrong to cheat, and not quite right to cover up 
a cheat by a second cheat." A revoke made pur- 
posely at an American table will exclude the per- 
petrator at once and finally. 

The rules concerning a misdeal are seven, beside 
seven specifications pro and con. In American 
Whist a single rule covers the whole ground. 

When laws are drawn with such nicety and 
exactness of labored phraseology as to defy the 
searcher for a flaw, and a dozen rules are made to 
specify what one should represent, implicated par- 
ties are always on the alert to find flaws, and they 
generally succeed. The manner in which the in- 
sipidity of the English code can be rebuked is 
apparent in the two following illustrations : — 

11 A player was dealing. He was watched by eagle- 
eyed adversaries. He threw two cards at once. There 
was a simultaneous ejaculation by two voices that would 
have stopped a fire engine. He paused, took a card 



22 A merican Whist. 

from the packet upon which he had just thrown two, 
and dealt it to the next player's pile. 'That won't 
do,' ' That was n't one of the cards,' ' Misdeal,' ' Cut 
this pack,' &c. 'Bring the Eules,' said the dealer. 
They were brought and gave the following illumina- 
tion : ' Should the dealer deal two cards at once, . . . 
if the dealer can by altering the position of one card 
only, rectify such error, he may do so.' ' Does it say 
which card % * shouted he triumphantly,' ' 

" A dealer's partner separated his own card from one 
of his adversary's, upon which, in dealing, it accident- 
ally fell. The opponents seized their hands, looked 
them over, and not liking them, called a misdeal. ' I 
only moved my card to prevent a mistake,' said the 
dealer's partner, ' and you have both of you looked at 
your cards.' ' Bring the Rules,' shouted the opponent. 
' Eead 45. You interfered. Nothing said as to what 
we may not do.' " 

And we quote : — 

" After the dealer has taken the trump card into his 
hand it cannot be asked for : a player naming it at any 
time during the play of that hand is liable to have his 
highest or lowest trump called." Eule 53. "If the 
dealer declare himself unable to recollect the trump 
card, his highest or lowest trump may be called," &c. 
Rule 55. 

Now, if the trump card cannot he ashed for, why 
should the dealer declare himself unable to recol- 
lect it ? Or is he to be fined for talking to himself ? 



Laws and Rules. 23 

English Short Whist does not require a Solon or 
Lycurgus to " amend " its laws, but it would be 
well to set aside the entire budget of infirmities, 
and to adopt a new code of regulations. J. C. 
says : " The best whist player is he who plays 
the game in the simplest and most intelligible 
way." Would not the simplest and most intelli- 
gible laws be the best to guide such a player ? 

The English writers are fond of telling how 
simple whist is and should be, and all the while 
stay its independent action by the cumbersome 
machinery of litigiousness. The necessity for con- 
stant " decisions " is induced by two causes: the 
danger of loss of that which " defines w T ell the in- 
terest taken in the game," and the liability to place 
upon the sophistical rules any construction that 
the interested party may choose. ' Matters that 
we should settle on the instant, are presented, and 
adjudged, and appealed as if the safety of a State 
were at stake. In the matter of a misdeal, among 
m Clay's Decisions " : — 

" The dealer is alleged to have dealt two cards to one 
hand, and the adversaries claim a misdeal. The dealer 
denies having dealt two cards together, and as no one is 
allowed to count the cards during a deal he continues 
his deal. He then comes to a faced card and (to out- 
wit the adversaries) claims a fresh deal." 



24 American Whist. 

This case exhibits the fact that what contributes 
" to the interest taken in the game," makes it in- 
cumbent upon the opponents of a dealer to get the 
deal away from him, and the amount which desig- 
nates the interest that he has in the game, induces 
him to fight for retaining it. The laws were so 
mystical that by their light no " decision " could 
be understood. The case was sent to Mr. Jones 
(Cavendish). His ruling was not approved and 
letters passed. It was argued that the deal was 
" absolutely and ab initio void and not only void- 
able." Mr. Jones sent to Mr. Clay, who pronounced 
the case " curious ; " but the stunning letter could 
not shake the great man's opinion, which agreed 
with that of Mr. Jones, whose statement was ac- 
counted to be (we have not the slightest doubt of 
it) " perfect and lawyer like" 

Now with us there would have been no claim 
shouted. If the dealer had thrown two cards in 
place of one,- the story would have been told when 
the deal was made, and if he had met a faced card, 
that too would have been evident. In either cases' 
he would gather all together at once and pass to 
his right-hand opponent to make up, while his left- 
hand opponent dealt. Which code of laws is 
" simplest" and best ? 

Drayson has an example : — 



Laws and Rtdes. 25 

A. played a club to a spade. His partuer asked him 
if he did not hold a spade. " Spade led \ " said A. 
" Oh ! yes, I have a spade." " Play your lowest 
spade," said C. Whereupon A. played the three. " Is 
that your lowest spade?" asked his partner. "Xo, I 
have the two," replied A. He then wished to take up 
the three and play the two, but C. argued that, by Eule 
61, A. was liable to a penalty for a revoke by playing 
his three, and his two was liable to be called, as he had 
named it. 

Here is a trouble indeed ! Probably the slight 
amount that " defines the interest in the game " 
promoted it. The argument was laborious and 
immense. 

Our settlement of the matter would have been 
to let A. revoke and at the end of the hand be 
punished for so doing, or if he had seen his errore- 
ons play in season to save himself, he would have 
exchanged his card and been fined as per Eule 14. 
Which course corresponds with the " simplicity " 
that J. C. recommends ? 

Apart from the folly of the long argumental war 
of words zealously carried on in the London clubs, 
consider the damage to the game that is being 
played. How are men to remember what has been 
done, or to fix their attention upon what is to do, 
while a wordy scuffle is being indulged in, ad libi- 



26 A merican Whist. 

turn ? We can hardly understand why England 
calls such an exhibition by the name of " Whist " 
— Silence — but are glad she calls it " Short " 
Whist ; the adjective serves to disassociate it from 
our beautiful game. 



TECHNICAL TERMS IN AMERICAN 

WHIST. 



A. AND B. REPRESENT PARTNERS. C. AND D. THEIR OPPO- 
NENT PARTNERS. A. IS GENERALLY REFERRED TO WHEN 
THE TERM " YOU " IS USED WITH REFERENCE TO PLAY. IT 
WILL BE NOTED THAT THE TERMS " HONORS, TREBLE, LOVE, 
BLAM, RUFF, BUMPER," ETC., ETC., ARE NOT USED IN AMERI- 
CAN WHIST. HIGH CARDS ARE THOSE IN EACH SUIT FROM 
ACE TO NINE INCLUSIVE. LOW CARDS FROM TWO TO EIGHT 
INCLUSIVE. 

Bring In. To make the cards composing a suit 

after trumps are out. 
Call. See Signal. 
Command. The winning cards over all that are in 

play. 
Conventional. A term applied to an established 

usage, as the " conventional " discard of the 

second best. 
Coup. A French word anglicised, which means a 

stroke that gains advantage ; a brilliant play. 
Discard. The card of another suit than that led, 

thrown away. 



28 A merican Whist 

Echo. The play purposely of a card that does not 
take, followed by the play of a lower card, 
partner having called. 
Eleventh. The master card of three in play, ten 

having been played. 
Establish. So to play that you gain command of a 

suit. 
False Card. One played contrary to conventional 

rule. 
Finesse. The play of a card lower than one that 
you hold not in sequence with it, or the pass- 
ing a card played by your partner when 
you hold a higher card. A finesse can also be 
made upon the card already thrown by the 
opponent. Deschapelles has six classifica- 
tions. 

The finesse proper. 

The returned finesse. 

The finesse by trial. 

The forced finesse. 

The finesse by speculation. 

The finesse on the partner. 
Clay says the varieties of the finesse are in- 
finite, but treats especially of the Finesse 
Speculative, which means the play of a third 
card holding first, but not second best, and 
the Finesse Obligatory, which is the playing 



Technical Terms in American Whist. 29 

of a card not your best that threatens to bring 
down one much higher from the opponent, 
you taking the risk of his holding a lowei 
card, high enough, however, to take the card 
you play. 

Force. A winning card played to exact a trump 
from the adversary, or a losing card to be 
trumped by your partner. 

Game. Seven points made by tricks. 

Grand Coup. The throwing away of a superfluous 
trump, or the taking by trumping of the part- 
ner's trick, that the lead may be thrown back 
to him, or the under-trumping a trick, whether 
trumped by your partner or opponent, for the 
purpose of throwing the lead. 

Guarded. A high card is guarded when smaller 
cards of the same suit are with it to be played 
upon higher cards than itself. 

Hand. The thirteen cards received from the 
dealer. 

High Cards. The nine to the ace inclusive. 

Lead. The first card played of any round. 
"ler. The first player in any round. 

Leading through. Playing a card of a suit in 
which the left-hand adversary is strong. 

Leading up to. Playing a card of a suit in which a 
high card is held by the right-hand adversary 



30 American Whist. 

Long Cards. Those remaining in a hand when all 
the rest of a suit have been played. 

Long Suit. See Suit. 

Long Trump. The thirteenth, twelve having been 
played. 

Low Cards. The eight to the deuce inclusive. 

Make. To take a trick is to make it. 

Master Card. The highest card not played. 

Opening. The first lead in each hand of each 
player. 

Pass. You are said to pass when you, third hand, 
holding a higher one, throw a smaller card of 
the suit than some one that has been played. 
It is, too, another word for finesse upon your 
partner. 

Plain Suits. See Suit. 

Points. The number of tricks over six. Points 
are sometimes kept as well as games and rub- 
bers. In such case all that are made by each 
side are counted. 

Re-Entry. A card of re-entry is one that, winning 
a trick not led by its holder, enables him to 
bring in a suit or throw a lead to advantage. 

Renouncing. Playing a card of another suit upon 
a suit led. 

Revoke. The play of a card of another suit while 
holding one of the suit led. 



Technical Terms in American Whist. 31 

Bound. Every four cards played in succession 
after the turning of the trump card. 

Rubber. The second consecutive game won by two 
players, or the third game won by the same 
players who won the first, the second having 
been won by their opponents. 

Saw. The play from partners to each other of 
suits that are trumped third hand. 

Score. The registry of points made upon the 
game. 

Second Hand. The elder hand, he who plays im- 
mediately after the leader. 

Sequence. Three cards or more that follow in 
regular order. The ace, k., and qu. is a tierce 
(sequence) to the ace, and when the k. and qu 
have been played, ace, kn., and 10 form a 
sequence. Tierce is a sequence of three 
cards, quart of four, quint of five, sixieme of 
six, septieme of seven. A head sequence is 
the consecutive three or more of the largest 
cards of the suit in your hand ; an intermediate 
sequence is neither at the head nor foot of the 
suit, and a subordinate sequence is one of 
smaller cards than those that compose the 
head sequence. 

Shuffle. Change of the relative position of the 
cards. 



32 American Whist. 

Signal. The call ; the echo ; a request or reply- 
made by the play. The play of the ace or 
of the highest card in play of any plain suit 
upon a lead of any other suit signals no more 
of that suit, or the entire command of it. The 
play of the second best card of a suit in play, 
as a discard, signals no more of that suit. 
The play of a card not as low as could have 
been properly played, followed by the play of 
one lower, is a signal or call for trumps. An 
indication given by the cards that a certain 
number of trumps are held, or that certain 
cards help to form a suit, &c. Whist is con- 
versational, that is, the cards speak, not the 
players ; and so the game is full of signals. 

Singleton. The one card only of a suit. 

Spread. Distribution of the pack, backs upper- 
most, that cards from any part of it may be 
drawn. 

Strengthening Play. Getting rid of high cards to 
give value to lower ones, and so make strong 
the partner's hand. 

Suit. A series of cards whose modern names are 
spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds. A trump 
suit is composed of the cards in each hand ■ 
that are of the series, one of which is turned 
by the dealer. The other three are plain 



Technical Terms in American Whist. 33 

suits. A long suit is one of four cards or 

more ; a short suit, one of three cards or less ; 

a strong suit is one of high cards; a weak 

suit, one of low cards, or a short suit of high 

cards. 
Tenace. The best and third best cards in play of a 

suit is a major tenace ; the second and fourth 

best, a minor tenace. 
Third Sand. The partner of the leader. 
Thirteenth. The card of any suit in hand after 

twelve of that suit have been played. 
Throwing the Lead. Playing a card that imposes 

an obligation on the part of another player to 

take the trick. 
Trick The four cards played in a round, taken 

and turned. 
Trump. One of the suit of the trump card. 
Trump Card. That turned at the right hand of 

the dealer. 
Twelfth. One of the two cards in play of a suit, 

eleven having been played. 
Underplay. Playing a low card, retaining a high 

one of same suit. 
Winning Cards. The highest in play of the suit 



THE GAME. 



The game is played by four persons. At cer- 
tain rooms it is customary for a gentleman to take 
his seat at a table and invite a friend to sit oppo- 
site. This is regarded as a challenge which two 
other players may accept. Or a pack of cards, 
having been shuffled, is " spread," and the players 
draw to ascertain which shall be partners, when, 
as in cutting, if that mode is chosen, the two taking 
the highest and the two taking the lowest cards 
play together. A player accidentally showing 
more than one card, cuts or draws again. In cut- 
ting the ace is lowest. In playing, two packs of 
cards are used. The first dealer is he who has cut 
or drawn the lowest card. He chooses the pack 
with which he and his partner are to deal through- 
out the game or rubber. The laws direct the early 
and continuous management of the cards by all 
the players. The game differs from all others in 
one particular: it must he played in unbroken 
silence. The calculations are so numerous, the 
conversation of the cards so interesting, and the 
tax upon the memory so constant, that closest 



The Game. 35 



application, uninterrupted by verbal comment, be- 
comes necessity. That is not whist playing in 
its high estate which tolerates interference with 
the mental plans of any player. It is customary, 
in clubs in which there are many players, for four 
persons to claim and hold a table (vacant when 
they would begin to play), whose right to play 
together out of six is obtained by cutting the low- 
est cards; these four again cut, and the highest 
and the lowest, respectively, are partners. When 
a rubber has been played, if one or both the out- 
siders desire to play, the five or the six cut again, 
and the lowest four cards decide who shall play 
the next rubber. 

American Whist is not a gambling game ; will 
not be played for money, nor will bets be made 
upon results. It is an intellectual amusement 
suited to those who will give to it much study. It 
is an exercise of memory and observation, and the 
better it is understood and the more rigorously it 
is played in accordance with the laws, the greater 
the gratification afforded. 

The Laws. 

1. The game consists of seven points. Each 
trick above six counts as cne point. A rubber ig 
the decisive game of three. 



2,6 American Whist. 

2. The first dealer is he who of the four players 
has cut or drawn the lowest card. The player on 
his left shuffles the pack chosen by the dealer, and 
the player on his right cuts, not leaving less than 
four cards in each packet. The cut, when both 
packets are on the table, is the packet nearest 
the centre of the table. The trump card, which is 
the under card of the cut, must not be known until 
it is turned by the dealer. If, by accident, it should 
be seen, or if any other card is exposed when cut- 
ting, the pack must be cut again. While the 
deal is being made, the dealer's partner shuffles the 
other pack for his own right-hand opponent, who 
is next to deal 

3. Either pack may be shuffled by any one of 
three players while the other pack is being dealt ; 
but as a rule, the cards having been shuffled at the 
beginning by any of the players will not again be 
shuffled except as by Law 2. 

4 The deal is lost if thirteen cards are not in 
regular succession, beginning at the dealer's left, 
received by each player, and if the last card is not 
turned up at the dealer's right hand, if a card is 
faced in the pack, or if a card is exposed while 
dealing. 

5. The trump card shall remain upon the table 
until three players shall have played, or longer at 
the dealer's option. 



The K Game. 37 



6. No player will touch his cards until the 
trump card is turned. 

7. If a player throws two or more cards at once, 
or exposes a card unless to play it, or fails to play 
upon a trick, or plays out of turn, he suffers the 
penalty of Law 14. 

8. Every hand must be played out, unless, the 
game being decided to the satisfaction of the losers, 
one or both of them throw down their cards. If 
the cards are so thrown down the game is at once 
counted against them, and if points are being kept, 
a point is taken by the winners for each card in 
any one hand. 

9. No cards can be called and no conversation 
can take place during the play. Whist is the 

GAME OF SILENCE. 

10. If a player revoke, his partner must with 
him share the fault and penalty, which is three 
points taken from their score or three added to 
their adversaries' score, at such adversaries' will, 
the revoke to be decided by the examination of 
the cards, if need be, at the close of the hand. 
Each party has a right to make such examination 
for any purpose. 

11. If a player, having thrown a card that would 
cause a revoke, can substitute the proper card for 
that thrown before the trick is turned, he may do 



38 American Whist. 

so, and suffer the penalty of Law 14 for having at 
first thrown a wrong card. If, in the mean time, 
other cards have been played, any or all of them 
can be recalled. 

12. A player whose next turn it is to play may 
point to any card upon the table, and the player 
of such caxd will draw it toward him to designate 
that he played it in his turn. 

13. When a trick is taken and turned it cannot 
again be seen until the hand is played. 

14. The penalty for the infringement of any Law 
is the deduction of one point from the score of the 
offender, or the addition of one point to the score 
of the claimant, as the adversaries upon consulta- 
tion at the close of the hand shall elect. 

The lovers of whist play the game for itself, as 
they read books or study problems. It is suppos- 
able that parties who play whist properly are gen- 
tlemen, and a gentleman requires but the plainest 
rules concerning a game by which to be governed, 
and does not contemplate dispute, prevarication, or 
wrongdoing. Not a word is to be spoken at the 
table from the time that the trump card is turned 
until the last card of the hand is played. The in- 
terruption that may be caused by asking a partner 
if he has no card of the suit that is played, fearing 



T*he Game. 39 



a revoke, can confuse the calculation of the players, 
and if a man cannot or does not play his cards prop- 
erly without reminder, he and his partner must 
together accept the loss that stupidity or accident 
necessitates. It certainly is not the fault of the 
antagonists that the revoke occurs, and there is no 
call for adding to the mischief, the interference with 
their plans that conversation would make. It does 
not come into the account that the question of the 
partner, " Have you none of that suit ? " puts the 
offender upon his guard, causes him to look once 
more over his hand, and, perhaps, find a card that 
before he did not see. What right has his partner 
to remind him of a real or imaginary error ? Part- 
ners must suffer for each other's mishaps. 

" Should the third hand not have played, and the 
fourth play before his partner, the latter may be called 
upon to win or not to win the trick. " " Cavendish/ ' 
Eule 68. 

The revoke in due time is discovered, and, at the 
end of the hand, the score is made to conform to 
the legal requirement of the opponents. 

A complete pack of cards numbers fifty-two. 
If, after any deal, there is found to be less or more, 
the dealer loses his deal; the cards should have 
been counted before the play began, or before they 



40 American Whist 

were shuffled for this deal. If, when dealing, a 
card is found faced, it is the dealer's misfortune or 
fault. He loses his deal. If he had question about 
the disposition of the cards in the pack, he should 
have run them over, backs uppermost, before he 
passed them to his right-hand adversary to cut. 
Each player will count his cards before he plays ; 
if he has more or less than thirteen there must be 
a new deal and by a new dealer. 

Bystanders should be allowed to see but one hand 
during the play. They should consider themselves 
privileged if allowed to look over at all, unauthor- 
ized in every particular to make comment concern- 
ing the hand or the play. 

Trumps should always be placed by a player in 
the same relative position in his hand, perhaps at 
the extreme right, or the second suit, as clubs on the 
right, diamonds (trumps) second, spades third, 
hearts on the left. Good players have enough to 
do to attend to their own hands and to watch the 
cards as they fall, and are not guilty of espionage. 
Should it be the misfortune of such men to admit 
an unprincipled player to an occasional game, they 
must be on their guard against his trickery in all 
particulars ; but it will be impossible for any player 
to ascertain the rank of trumps in any other hand, 
as they need not be disposed according to rank, or 



The Game. 41 



to determine how many are held, as there is no 
visible dividing line between the cards. In fact, 
the assertion that number and value of trumps in a 
given hand can be ascertained by any other player 
finds its force in the gross carelessness of the player 
who holds them. 

There need be no necessity for arbitration or 
outside interference. Bystanders should never be 
called upon to act as judges upon any point. If 
at any time it is thought proper by the players to 
appeal from an opinion or a decision of one or more 
of their number, an officer of the club may act as 
referee, and his judgment must be accepted as final 
in the case ; but those cases will be very rare con- 
cerning which the players are not competent and 
just adjudicators. 

The Lead. 

The " order of leads " is the same in general as 
that advised by " Cavendish." He is admitted in 
this respect to be the best of all authorities. Ameri- 
can Whist does away with the greater part of his 
laws, for they are useless to parties who do not 
count honors, and who will not gamble. In his scale 
of leads the " honors " are specially noticed, and all 
below them have little treatment and no important 



42 American Whist. 

part to play. With us the high cards are ace to 
9 inclusive, and the 9 is the special informatory 
one of two others, and constitutes the best open- 
ing lead when king, knave, and others are held. 
ISTor do we ever lead that card at first unless the 
king and knave are in the suit, nor do we ever 
lead any other card in that suit if we hold those. 
Theje is no lead that so enlivens the game as 
this. At once the partner is aware that he must 
help make those cards, and the adversaries are 
determined to prevent them from making. The 
partner holding ace and queen only, takes with 
the ace and generally plays a trump, holding four 
or more. The adversary, unless with a long suit 
of the 9 led, discards from it in preference to other 
suits. 

With ace, queen, 10, 9, we lead the ace, then 9 ; 
with ace, knave, 10, 9, the ace, then 9. No leading 
card but the 9 w 7 ill positively declare two other 
cards. The queen led may signify, and generally 
does, the holding of the knave and 10; but the 
queen may be properly led when knave and 9 and 
several more of the suit are held.* 

In plain suits the ace led at the outset signifies 
four or more cards, and not the king or queen ; or 
that the queen and knave are held, or the king 
alone. 

* See Preface to Sixth Edition, D. 



The Game. 43 




The king led, signifies the ace and others, or the 
queen and others. 

The queen led, signifies the knave and 10 ; or 
the knave, 9, and three others, or queen and two 
others. 

The knave led, signifies the king, queen, and two 
others ; the 10 and 9, or the best of any three cards. 

The 10 led, signifies king, knave, and others, not 
the 9 ; 9, 8, and others ; or ace, queen, and 9. 

The 9 led, signifies king, knave, and others.* 

The 8 led, signifies the best of a sequence, or 
the penultimate card of a suit of five. 

The 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 may, either of them led, be the 
lowest of a four suit, or the penultimate of a five 
suit. 

The 2 led, must be the lowest of a four suit, 
and argues weak trumps and no sure cards. [See 
Original Leads in Plain Suits.] 

When five trumps or more are held, a trump is 
usually played upon the first lead. Whether it is 
so played, and which one of the five or more 
should be played, depends upon the state of the 
game and the value of the hand in plain suits. 
The player is to do his best to play his partner's 
hand and his own, and purposeless to play trumps 
merely because he has trumps may give his part- 
ner to understand that he has reasons which do 
not exist. The management of trumps is the 

* See Preface to Sixth Edition, E. 



44 American Whist. 

nicest feature in the correct playing of the game. 
Generally it is best to lead from a strong trump 
hand, five or more, but the score must be kept in 
mind and the value of the trumps considered, since 
it may be of the utmost importance that a lead 
should come to you or through you before you an- 
nounce your strength. Your lead must not deceive 
your partner, and need not do so though you do 
not proclaim your trump strength. You are, for 
instance, playing for a point and know that you 
can make it ; your partner can ask no more than 
that you should make it. There are a great many 
dry sayings among the Englishmen about impov- 
erished people who, holding five trumps, did not 
lead one, and numerous are the recorded instances 
of bad play because trumps were not led. Despite 
all this, judgment must be used in their disposition. 
They cannot be treated like plain suits. " Caven- 
dish " hand, No. XXV., which will be played else- 
where by the rules of American Whist, is proof of 
this. Generally lead trumps with five or more, 
but regard your hand, the trump card, the score, 
and all the chances, before you decide. 



The Game. 45 



Original Trump Lead. 

If because of the number of trumps you hold 
and the make-up of your hand in plain suits you 
deem it advisable to have the trumps out of the 
adversaries' hands at the beginning of the play, the 
proper lead from certain specified cards, a low 
trump having been turned at your right, is as fol- 
lows : — 

Holding Ace and K., . . . play Ace then K. 

Having but the two trumps and good plain suits 
you secure at the outset two rounds of trumps. 
The play is informatory to your opponent that 
you have no more trumps, but it is also so to your 
partner, and when you can give him the lead he 
will probably bring down ' three more of the five 
remaining. You may do no better service with 
your ace and k. since if trumps are led, you have 
but these to play. 

Ace sequence .... play lowest of sequence. 
Ace, K. Kn., and two or more . . . K. 

Judge by the fall of the cards if you care to pur- 
sue the lead ; if not, give your partner a chance to 
take a trick and return a trump. You will then 
know which to play, kn. or ace ; or it may be a 
small one upon his qu. 



46 American Whist. 

Ace, K. 10, and two others (not the 9), 
play next to smallest. 

The lowest card is sometimes led* in trumps 
when, with the same number of cards in plain suit 
next to lowest would be the only proper play, but 
as the partner had best understand whether four 
or five trumps were originally held and as by your 
after play he will so understand, the penultimate 
play when five are held is the best. 

Ace, K. and four or more . . . K. then Ace. 

King then ace means more of the suit. Ace 
then k. means no more. 

Ace, K. Kn, and one other . . . . K. 

Probably the lead of the small card should fol- 
low, but the ace may be next led or you may give 
partner a lead of suit to take, that he may return 
a trump. 

Ace and jive or more Ace, or 

the antepenultimate. 

Ace and four the penultimate. 

Ace and three the lowest. 

King sequence lead K. 

King, Q. or K. Kn., and three or four others, 

one of the lowest. 

' King, Kn., 10, and others .... Kn. 
King, Kn., 9, and- others 9. 



The Game. 47 



Having king and knave and 9 in any hand of 
tramps or plain suit, and not ace or qiL, the 9 is the 
proper lead. It signifies k. and kn., and is the 
only card that designates two others especially. 

King and four or more, 

one of the lowest (not the lowest). 
King and three more . ... the lowest. 

Queen sequence .... lead Qu. 
Queen, Kn., 9, . and two others, 

next to lowest. 

Queen and five or more, 

the antepenultimate. 

Queen and four the penultimate. 

Queen and three the lowest. 

Knave sequence . . . lead Kn. 
Knave and five or more, 

the antepemdtimate. 
Knave and four .... the penultimate. 
Knave and three . ... the lowest. 

10 or 9 and five or more, 

the antepenultimate, 
and four . . . the penultimate, 
and three . . . the lowest. 

These leads in trumps are based upon the facts 
that you want trumps out, that ^ small card has 
been turned, and that your high cards in plain 



48 American Whist. 

suits justify the lead. \ If it is desirable for you to 
play a trump at the outset with a high card turned 
on your right, the lead must be carefully consid- 
ered. Having five or more trumps and good suits 
you would be justified in leading trumps. If the 
ace is turned, you want that card played at once 
and must bring it down at sacrifice of your own 
or your partner's best card, if need be. If king is 
turned and you hold ace and four or more, play 
to have your partner force the king. If queen is 
turned and you hold ace, k. and three others, play 
k. then ace, for qu. may fall. If knave is turned 
and you hold ace, qu. and others, play queen ; if it 
takes, a small one. Whenever your partner calls for 
trumps or leads trumps, obey the call and follow 
up the lead. If he leads king and you hold ace 
and small one only, take with ace and return small 
one. If you have two beside ace, play lowest. If 
he leads a small trump and you have three only, 
take with the highest and return next highest even 
if they be ace, k. and qu. If you have four, take 
as cheaply as you can and return small one. If he 
calls and you have but three, play the highest, 
then the next highest ; if you have four, lead him 
your smallest trump. If he calls or if he has led 
and you have echoed, not having the chance to 
lead, you may, when leading or following, play to 



The Game. 49 



win, as he will understand that you held four and 
are giving him the advantage of your hand. Do 
not be anxious to lead trumps without good cause, 
but, deeming it proper to lead them, do not be de- 
terred from doing so by a high card at your right. 
If a king is turned and you hold ace, qu. and oth- 
ers, it would be well if you could have the lead 
from your partner ; but remember if you are very 
strong he is not likely to be, and that if you want 
trumps out you must disregard your tenace and 
lead a small trump, hoping the king may fall upon 
some high caret of you^ partner's play. If the king 
takes, your opponent must lead a suit and perhaps 
to your partner, who can then return a trump. If 
the king should be held and the kn. take, your 
partner will, on getting the lead, give you a trump 
and the king will be in danger. 

Original Lead in Plain Suits. 

Generally lead from your strongest or longest 
suit. You want to inform your partner at the 
start either that you will take the burden of the 
game upon yourself, which you do, by leading 
trumps, or that the best thing on which you have to 
depend is the suit which you earliest play. Close 
attention to the score, however, will determine a 

4 



50 American Whist. 

lead. Let no written rule get the better of your 
judgment in the matter of managing either a 
peculiar or a commanding hand. If you had best 
surrender to your partner, do so as soon and as 
positively as possible ; if you can play with him, 
trusting to certain evidences for assistance, make 
your plans to favor such co-operation, but if you 
can do the work by having your own way, play for 
your own hand, and let your partner do his best to 
help you. 

Holding Ace, K., Qu., Kn. . . . K.,thenKn. 

Because your partner would understand situation 
of qu.; he would know you would not lead k., then 
kn. from any other suit than quart to ace.* 

Ace, tierce K, then Qu. 

Ace, K, Kn., and others K. 

Then change the suit, perhaps to trumps, if you 
have four and a high card in another suit ; cer- 
tainly if you have five trumps. 

Ace, K, and others K, then Ace. 

Be careful to observe fall of the cards, they 
determine the value of the rest that you hold, and 
look out for your partner's or opponent's call. 

Ace, K. . . m Ace, then K. 

that your partner may understand you have no 

* See Preface to Sixth Edition, F. 



The Game. 51 



more of the suit. It is, of course, rarely that you 
make this play at the outset, for it gives the con- 
trol away, and you had best lead from a long suit, 
even of low cards. Beside, you may want the 
king and ace as cards of re-entry. But there are 
exceptions to all rules, and this is one of them. 
If the score is six to six, and you have four 
trumps, not commanding ones, a plain suit of five 
and one of two, and a high card turned on your 
right, you had best lead ace, then k. If your 
partner wants trumps he will inform you, and you 
have helped rather than hindered him. If he does 
not want them, he will know to make his queen of 
the suit you have played, or not having it, to force 
you (for by not playing trumps, you have signified 
the readiness to be forced), no matter how few or 
small his own trumps. Having made ace, k, play a 
small card for him to take, if possible ; he will 
understand how to use his cards to best advan- 
tage. If he can get the lead, and has the queen of 
your opening suit to play, you discard one of the 
two suit, and unless the opponents have the 
chance to rid you of trumps, with the assistance 
your partner may be able to give, despite very 
strong hands against you, you may win the game. 
You are playing for the odd card, remember, and 
not to please the books. Coups are the order now, 



52 A merican Whist. 

and they are of various kinds. There is no better 
kind than that one which gives you the card. If 
you play from your long suit, your adversary per- 
haps having good cards in it, may let his partner 
throw away a card of your suit of ace and k. The 
qu., if your partner held it, might then be of no 
avail. If your adversaries have control of trumps, 
and high cards in your suits, the game is theirs in 
despite of your play ; but with chances somewhat 
against you, you secure three or .four tricks at the 
outset, and trusting to your partner's cards of 
re-entry, or to a tenace that you may help him to 
make, with your trumps to answer his forcing, you 
may obtain the odd trick. Of course, with the 
hand designated as yours, at the beginning of a 
game, you lead the penultimate of the five suit. 

Ace, Qu., Kn Ace, then Qu. 

Ace, Qu., 10, and others . . . 10, or Ace.* 

If two leads are desired, strength in trumps 
determines the lead. 

Ace, Qu., and three others . . Ace, then the 
fourth card from Ace, inclusive. In trumps, 
lead next to lowest. 

Ace } Kn., 10, and others . . . Ace, then 10. 

Ace and four or more . ... Ace. 

Ace and three lowest. 

Never lead a 9 in any suit in which ace is held. 
* See Preface to Sixth Edition, G. 



The Game. 53 



King, sequence K. 

The argument for the lead of the kn. or the 10 
is that the partner will put on the ace and return, 
and so be out of your way in the suit. Also that 
second hand may pass 10, holding ace, and give 
you another lead. It has no strength. Play the 
k., and let the ace fall at once upon it, if not held 
by your partner; and if he has it and but one 
more, he will take with ace, and return when 
proper. He will take the k. as readily as he would 
the 10, if it is best for him to do so. Beside, * 
you deceive him by the lead of the 10, which may 
be best of three cards, &c. Again, your partner 
might trump a kn. or 10 led, but he would dis- 
card upon a k. If the ace is against your suit, it 
had best take, and leave you with command. The 
only correct play is the head of sequence.* 

K., Qu., and others .... K, then small one, 

if you care to continue suit. 

K., Qu., Kn., and two others Kn. 

If second hand has ace he will probably play it, 
at any rate your partner will know that you have 
it not. If he holds it he will play it; if he re- 
nounces and fourth hand makes it you have all 
the rest, and will have shown your partner that 
your lead was from five cards. If he has none of 

* See Preface to Sixth Edition, H. 



54 A merican Whist. 

this suit and only small trumps and of course two 
long suits which his own trumps will not assist 
him to make, he may trump the kn., doing you no 
injury. 

K, Qu., Kn., and another K. 

K., Qu., K. 

K, Kn., 10, and others (not the 9) . . .10. 
K Kn, 9, with or without any or all 

others, except Ace and Qu., 9. 

The most absolute and the best of leads.* 

K, Kn., and three others 'penultimate. 

K, Kn., and one or two others . . lowest. 

K. and four others ........ penultimate. 

K. and three others lowest. 

Qu., sequence Qu. 

Qu., Kn., 9, and two others . . . Qu. 

The next to the lowest is a proper play at the 
early part of a game and with a good hand of 
trumps. 

Qu., Kn., and two others lowest. 

Qu., Kn., and one Qu. 

Qu. and four small ones penultimate. 

Qu. and three lowest. 

Never lead a 9 in any suit in which qu. is held. 
* See Preface to Sixth Edition, I. 



The Game. 55 

Knave sequence Kn. 

Knave and four others penultimate. 

Knave and three others lowest. 

Knave and two others Kn. 

10 sequence . . 10. 

10 and four others penultimate. 

10 and three lowest. 

10 and two 10. 

9 and four or more penultimate. 

9 and three lowest. 



* 



Never lead the 9 at the head of a sequence. 

From any low cards holding five, play next to 
lowest; holding four, play lowest; holding three, 
play highest. 

After the first play, if you have the winning card 
and do not care to lead trumps, play it, especially 
if you hold next best, but if you have high cards 
in other suits do not hesitate to change the suit. 
It is cheap whist-playing that demands the regu- 
lar running out of suits. 

The original lead is oftentimes a most important 
feature of the play. In general, let it be from the 
longest suit. You are to play two hands as it 
were, and want to give your partner's cards all 
opportunity. But there are exceptions, and judg- 
ment in play is loftier than book-rule. You must 



* As an original lead. 



56 American Whist. 

consult the score and play to it * A. and B. are six ; 
their opponents, C. and D., are four. Diamonds 
trumps, 8 turned. It is A.'s play and he holds 
qu., kn., 8, 7, 5 clubs, ace, k., qu., hearts, ace 
spades, k., kn., 9, 4 diamonds. His play is 9 of 
diamonds and not the 7 of clubs. 

Second Hand. 
"Second Hand, Low? 

The reasons for the play of a low card by you, 
the immediate follow of the lead, when you can 
play a higher card than the one thrown, are : first, 
the leader has probably good cards or a long suit 
and you may make efficient your high card in an 
after-play should he finesse upon a return lead ; 
second, third hand will play his best card if need- 
ed, and if it takes your best you have played to no 
purpose ; third, there are two players to follow 
you, and your partner's play may strengthen your 
position ; fourth, by the play of the low card on a 
lead upon which your left-hand opponent will play 
a high one, you on his lead of any suit become 
last player. 

Having a sequence, however, play the lowest of 
it, no matter how high the card so it be higher than 
the lead. If the nine is led and you hold ace, qu., 

* See Preface to Sixth Edition, J. 



The" Game. 57 



10, play 10 ; you hold the double tenace. If you 
have either qu. or 10, and another, if 9 is led, 
play qu. or 10, for you know k. and kn. are on 
your right. But if kn. is led and you have qu. 
and small ones it is useless to play qu. for neither 
ace # nor k. is on your right while 10 and 9 may 
be there. If you play qu.,* C. k, and B. ace, you 
have gained the trick indeed, but you would have 
had it if you had not sacrificed qu., and you have 
established D.'s suit. If you hold k., qu., and oth- 
ers you do not play qu. on kn., for D. has not ace 
and either C. or B. will take the knave. If you 
want trumps out you will call as early as you can 
do so, and as you cannot call by your own lead and 
perhaps prefer to have them led to you, your play 
at second hand is available at once. 
Play lowest of sequence. 

Ace, K, and Kn., Kn. 

Ace, K, and low ones K. 

If strong in trumps, a low one next to 
lowest, beginning of call. 

iq% X Ace, Qu., Kn., Kn. 

Ace, Qu., 10 Qu. 

unless 9 is led, then 10. 

if Kn. is led Ace. 



* In illustrations of games C. is always A.'s left-hand, L. 
always his right-hand opponent. 



58 American Whist. 

Ace, Kn., 10, and others 10. 

Ace arid others low one. 

K., Qu., and others Qu. 

or a low one according to the card led and 
strength in trumps. Do not play Qu. on Knave 
led. 

K., Kn., and others low one. 

K. and another in trumps . • K. 

K. and another in plain suits the low one. 

Qu., Kn., Kn. 

Qu. and others a low one. 

Kn. and others a low one. 

10 or 9, and low ones . a low one. 

Holding but two cards of a suit, the largest not 
an ace or k. and larger than the card led, play it, 
if your hand in trumps warrants a lead of trumps 
to it. Holding ace and any others below qu., the 
general order is, play a low card second hand, for if 
you have ace, kn., and others, and a low card is 
led, you know the leader has not k. and qu., so that 
your kn. may be of no avail. The leader had prob- 
ably four of the suit ; there may be but four more 
in both the hands that follow you. If you have 
trumps, this suit for you is in excellent condition 
if you pass it by playing second hand low. In the 
second round of a suit pains must be taken with 
your play, for if you have winning cards and 



The" Game. 50 



trumps, by passing the second time you may see 
cards fall to the advantage of what you hold. Sup- 
pose you have ace, 8, 5, 3, and the 4 is led, you 
play the 3, C. kn., B. qu. Now you know C. 
has neither k. nor 10. If D. by and by leads 
the 6 of that suit you play the 5, C. 9, B. 10. 
Now you know D. has k. and 7, and C. or B. has 
the 2 ; whenever that 2 is led, you have the tenace 
and have made four tricks on D.'s long suit. 

Third Hand. 

" Third Hand, High:' 

The significant order means that you should 
usually play the highest card to your partner's 
lead. It is his best or longest suit, and of it 
he probably has some good cards, not, perhaps, 
the highest, and those in other hands that are the 
highest he wants should be played to make room 
for his suit. If he leads higher cards than those 
you hold, you do but follow as the rest of the players 
must, remembering your opportunity for the call. 
The exceptions to your throwing your highest card, 
if third player, are when you have a speculative 
finesse, and when the card or cards already played 
are as good or better than your own. Do not 
play queen upon 10 led, unless knave has been 



60 American Whist. 

played second. On a small card led, holding ace, 
queen, play queen, then ace; holding ace, queen, 
knave, play knave. Do not play king upon part- 
ner's knave, unless queen is played second or you 
hold ace also, and want the lead. There are rea- 
sons sometimes for deep finesse, but they are not 
applicable to early play in the hand. A study of 
many hands played through is necessary to appre- 
ciate the resources of the game. 

Fourth Hand. 

The last player takes the trick not already taken 
by his partner, if he can. Near the close of a hand 
the taking of the trick may be refused by last 
player, who, by such refusal, thinks to make two 
tricks by losing one. Holding ace, 10, 7, when his 
left-hand opponent has king, queen, 9, and plays 
king. If fourth hand takes with ace, he has no 
other trick. If he allows king to make, he has 
the other two. 

This general opening, given somewhat in detail, 
is essential to be understood, but each game differs 
from every other, and not merely study of the 
books, but practice with the cards to the ascertain- 
ing of what to do when situations are urgent, is 
obligatory upon all who would become good whist- 



The Game. 61 



players. You can never play well, unless you 
kno.w how to cope with opportunities that are 
liable to occur in each and every hand, and it is 
not until you know how to play well that you can 
understand the fascination of the game. 

Short Whist adopts to the fullest extent possible 
the mutual co-operation plan between partners. It 
is essential to the proper playing of that game. It 
is a game of haste and " honors." To get through 
with the play is an essential matter. To ascertain 
where " honors " lie is another. We expect much 
more manifestation of our partner's ingenuity than 
the London players do. They propose to be very 
strict in the following of certain leads and ways, 
which makes their game monotonous. They think 
it is better to be too strict in obeyal of set plans 
than to be too careless in rejection of them ; that a 
man who follows book rule exactly, though he is 
not very talented, makes a choicer partner than 
one who does not object to the play of false cards. 
We shall not care to sift the comparison between 
two characters, neither of whom, in their extrava- 
gance, interests us. It may be that a dumb man 
could better show us over the Art Museum than a 
blind one, but our preference, when making choice 
of a guide, would be in favor of one who could 
both see and explain. 



62 A merican Whist. 

The best way to begin and to continue to play 
whist is to begin and continue to play the right 
game and to play it right. You want to under- 
stand the laws, and always obey them. Then 
understand the rules which are for general use in 
play. The principles upon which the American 
game is conducted never change. The manner of 
play, which the rules endeavor to direct, must 
depend, oftentime, upon contingencies that regu- 
lations cannot anticipate. Whenever you hold 
three cards, each of three suits, and four of another, 
the rules can guide you safely, for they explain 
what is to be done under such circumstances. 
When you have five of one suit, three of two 
others, and two of a fourth, they can compass the 
play of such a hand and inform what had best be 
led ; but when you hold seven of one suit and six 
of another, or even six of a certain suit, five of a 
second, and two of a third, all talk of combination 
with your partner's hand and leading from your 
longest suit is superfluous. Your judgment as to 
the lead and your observation of the score, and 
what you require, and what you can do with many 
cards of one suit, quite distinct* it may be in 
denomination, come into service and must be 
proved in practice. Dr. Pole tells you that the 
"fundamental theory" of Short Whist is (and a 



The Game. 63 



fundamental theory must support all principle of 
action) that the two hands, yours and your part- 
ner's, shall be combined and treated as one, and 
that the long-suit lead (which means the longest) 
is the basis of the play. He also tells you that, 
having five trumps, you must lead one of them. 
Now, suppose the hand above indicated is- made 
up of ace, kn., 7, 5, 4, 2, hearts, ace, qu., 8, 6, 3, 
clubs (trumps), kn. turned on your right, and 10 
and 8 of spades. Only the odd card is wanted by 
either party. What card will you play to agree 
with Dr. Pole's " theory " ? What card should you 
play to make sure, so far as in your power, of the 
odd trick ? The fact remains that your own hand 
is most important to you, and it is that hand which 
you personally play. With its cards you are famil- 
iar at the outset, and not with those of your part- 
ner. Your plans must be laid with reference to 
what you yourself hold, and your lead, instead of 
being ordered by book rule, must depend upon 
combinations so infinite in variety that books can 
only hint at their existence. Do not mistake the 
tenor of this advice. We do not say, "Never 
mind your partner; play for yourself." On the 
contrary, generally speaking, follow the order of 
the leads. They are planned to be the best, all 
things considered. But when you take up a hand 



64 American Whist. 

which has in it the elements of success, if played 
in a certain manner, do not forfeit your judgment 
by thinking, " While I suppose that I ought, for 
my hand, to lead the 5 of hearts, yet the rule bids 
me play, to inform partner, the queen of clubs and 
risk the consequences." Study the score, and play 
to win. Be prudent and conservative when you 
must ; be brilliant and courageous when you can. 

There is a game played by " Cavendish," num- 
bered XXV. in his book, in which he seeks by illus- 
tration to show the value, on the part of the players 
on the defensive, of leading from weakest suits. 
A., who leads the strong suit, plays the plodding 
book-rule, and is complimented by "Cavendish" 
as having " played well throughout, but he cannot 
prevent the result." It only happens that as we 
play whist, we win with the same cards with which 
the English players cannot win. 

Instead of throwing away the game to please 
book regimen, we choose to make it by the exer- 
cise of our common sense. We call especial atten- 
tion to this game, and ask experts to play it over 
carefully by both methods, and to read the argu- 
ments made, because this is a fair illustration on 
the one side, of the book method that demands a 
trump lead right or wrong, and on the other, of the 
judgment and consequent independent play of a 



The Game. 65 



first-class American player, who, at once, upon tak- 
ing up his hand, saw the folly of obeying a rule 
that, followed, would compromise his strength. 
The hands are as follows : — 

A. k. of spades ; k. and 4 of hearts ; k, 10, 9, 8, 
7, 6, and 2 of clubs ; k., kn., and 9 of diamonds. 

C. kn., 8 and 5 of spades; ace, 5 and 2 of 
hearts ; qu., 4 and 3 of clubs ; ace, qu., 10 and 2 of 
diamonds. 

B. qu. and 9 of spades ; kn., 10, 9, 8, and 7 of 
hearts ; ace and kn. of clubs ; 7, 6, 4, and 3 of dia- 
monds. 

D. ace, 10, 7, 6, 4, 3 and 2 of spades ; qu., 6 and 
3 of hearts ; 5 of clubs ; 8 and 5 of diamonds. 

Clubs trumps ; 5 turned. 

The English score A. B. 3, Y. Z. 4, we will sup- 
pose to correspond with the American A. B. 5, 
C. D. 6. 



The English Play. 



1. 








2. 


A. 6 c. 








B. Kn. c. 


C. 3. 








D. 2 s. 


B. Ace. 








A. K. c. 


D. 5. 


A. 


B. 


1. 


C. 4 c. A B. 2. 




C. 


D. 0. 


C. D. 0. 



66 American Whist. 



3. 








4. 


A. 2 c. 








C. Kn.s. 


C. Qu. 








B. Qu. 


B. 3 d. 








D. Ace. 


D. 3 s. 


A. 


B. 


2. 


A. K A. B. 2. 




C. 


D. 


1. 


C. D. 2. 



Remark. Trick 3. Ey the first discard D. shows 
his strong suit to be spades. In an ordinary hand D. 
might afterward throw a diamond. But here C. must 
be strong in diamonds to save the game, and it is 
important for D. to keep the power of leading that suit 
more than once. 



5. 








6. 




D. 8 d 








0. 8 s. 




A. 9 " 








B. 9. 




C. 10" 








D. 10. 




B. 4 " 


A. 


B. 


2. 


A. 7 c. 


A. B. 3 


♦ 


C. 


D. 


3. 




C. D. 3 


7. 








8. 




A K.h. 








C. 5 s. 




C. Ace. 








B. 6 d. 




B. 7. 








D. 6 s. 




D. 3. 


A. 


B. 


3. 


A. 8 c. 


A. B. 4. 




C. 


D. 


4. 




C. D. 4. 



The Game. 67 



9. 








10. 




A. 4 h. 








D. 7 s. 




C. 2. 








A. 9 c. 




B. 8. 








C. 5 h. 




D. Qu. 


A. 


B. 


4 


B. Kn.h. 


A. B. 5. 




C. 


D. 


5. 




C. D. 5. 



Tricks 1 1 to 1 3. A. with the lead remains with the 
last trump, and k., kn. of diamonds. He (trick 11) 
plays the trump ; but whatever he plays 

C. I). vrin the odd triclc. 

A. plays well throughout, hut he cannot prevent the 
result. His lead of the trump at trick 3 to show his 
strength, and to tell his partner to make one trick cer- 
tain if he has the chance, is unlucky, as it puts the 
adversaries on the only tack for saving the game. — 
"Cavendish," "Laws and Principles of Whist" p. 212. 

We are not to know what would become of a 
man who, in an English club, holding seven trumps 
did not lead one. But we know that in an Amer- 
ican club, a prime player considers his hand, the 
score, and the probabilities, before he blindly fol- 
lows a general rule. 

In the hand under consideration, the odd card 
for the opponents makes their game. A. has not 
a certain trick in his hand, except in trumps, and 
not the command of those. Holding seven he can 



68 American WhisL 

assign to his partner but two, and certainly not 
two of the highest. His partner must make his 
own trumps if he has any, or two tricks at least in 
plain suits, and he, A., must be led up to, or the 
game is lost. To draw the trumps, if they were 
equally divided, would be of no avail unless his 
partner held the highest cards, and to play trump 
against either of the opponents holding three or 
four, were suicidal. A. should lead the 9 of dia- 
monds. It signifies k. and kn., informs partner 
and the table of one suit (of all that he cares for 
them to know), and waits results. 

The American Play. 



1. 








2. 


194 








C. Kn. sp. 


C. 10. 








B. 9. 


B. 3. 








D. Ace. 


D. 5. 


A. 


B. 


0. 


A. K A. B. 0. 




C. 


D. 


1. 


C. D. 2. 



C. can safely play the 10 (trick 1) for he holds 
the double tenace ; if he does not know how to play 
whist and holding 10 throws qu. upon a 9, A. and 
B. make another trick. As diamonds are under- 
stood by C. to be A/s best suit, he, of course, will 



The Game. 69 



keep command of it, and plays the best card of his 
three suit. 



3. 






4. 


D. 8 d. 






C. Ace d. 


A. Kn. 






B. 6; 


C. Qu. 






D. 2 s. 


B. 4. A. 


B. 


0. 


A. K. d. A. B. 0. 


C. 


D. 


3. 


C. D. 4. 



D. leads through the strong hand of diamonds 
(trick 3), as spades will be trumped, and (trick 4) 
discards from his long suit of spades, keeping qu. 
of h. guarded. 



5. 








6. 




C. 8 s. 








B. 7 d. 




B. Qu. 








D. 5 c. 




D. 3. 








A. 7 c. 




A. 4 h. 


A. 


B. 


1. 


C. 2 d. 


A B. 2. 




C. 


D. 


4. 




C. D. 4. 



B. understands that A. has no diamonds and no 
spades, and must have five trumps at least, for he 
did not have five hearts and lead from three dia- 
monds. But A. did not lead trumps and has not 
called for them as he has had a chance to do. The 
2 of diamonds is in C.'s hand, and the 7 is B.'s proper 
play. If D. trumps, A. will probably overtrump. 



7<3 American Whist. 

If A. does not overtrump, B. has the last play upon 
D/s probable spade lead. B. is right in holding 
his ace, knave, for an emergency. But his play of 
the diamond makes the odd card, and A.'s shrewd 
analysis of the game saved it from the beginning. 

If B. had played qu. of spades on kn. (trick 2), 
and the 9 on trick 5, A. would have taken with 7 
of clubs and played k. of hearts. The lead thus 
thrown into C.'s hand would require the lead of 
another spade, which B. would take with kn. clubs; 
or of the 2 of diamonds, which D. would trump 
and A. would take. 

I chose this example to show that such a hand 
as A.'s at such a stage of the game was the excep- 
tion, and that he must play to win. He had noth- 
ing in plain suits but which, as the " Cavendish " 
play shows, he must sacrifice ; he had no desire to 
call for trumps, and it was evidently wrong to lead 
them with his hand, when he had a proper desig- 
natory card to throw. 

With the nine best trumps but one, seven in one 
hand, the English player, determined on following 
book-rule, loses the game. The mistake that the 
book men make is, that the book knows more than 
the man. The man should know when and how 
to use the book. Brilliant play may begin at the 
beginning of a hand, but brilliant play means de- 



The Game. 71 



fiance of written rule. Had B. in the game just 
given played qu. second on the second trick, and 
A. had afterward trumped the spade lead of C, A.'s 
play of k. of hearts would have been as fine a coup 
as was ever made by Deschapelles. The book can- 
not imagine a case in detail like any one of ten 
that may occur in a single evening's play. The 
book says, play your partner's hand as well as your 
own. Certainly, when it is advisable to do so; 
when it is not, play your own. A man at the 

G Club held nine trumps, three queens, and an 

8. He was playing Short Whist. The score stood 
4 to 4, or, as they style it, " four-all." The books 
could not inform him how to help his partner, nor 
how to obtain help, nor how to play those cards, 
except that he must lead a trump. He dealt, 
played a queen on first trick, trumped the next, 
led a trump, and lost the odd card. The same 
hand properly managed with his partner would 
have won against the adversaries, no matter how 
they led or followed. 

A. took up a septieme of hearts to the ace, four 
clubs (the 9 turned on the right), and two spades. 
Score, A. B. 2, C. D. 6. The books would have 
had him play the k. of hearts, and then the kn. 
He played his lowest trump, found his partner with 
ace, qu., and another. The kn. fell upon his k., and 



72 



American Whist. 



he made eleven tricks and the game, the spades 
and diamonds all held against him. He might 
have made or lost the odd card in usual course, 
but the hand warranted departure from it, the 
score being considered.* 



Inferences. 

The chances for drawing inferences belong to 
every hand played. The necessity for close atten- 
tion to the business of the game is enforced by 
this consideration. 



If the leader plays 
ace of trumps, 

Any trump but the 
ace, 

Ace, plain suit, 



King, 



Queen, 



the inference is: he has 
the king and no more, and 
good cards in other suits, 

has five or more, and good 
cards in plain suits. 

has king only, or qu. and 
kn., or kn., 10, and others, 
or four or more low cards. 

has ace and queen, or ace 
and others, or qu. and 
others. 

has not ace or k., but has 
kn. 10, or kn., and three 
others, or only two more. 



* See Preface to Sixth Edition, K. 



The Game. 73 



Knave, has k., qu., and two others, 

or 10, 9 and others, or is 
best of three cards. 

10, has k., kn. or ace, qu., and 

others, or plays head of 
sequence* 

9, has k., kn., and others. 

8, 7, 6, 5, 4, or 3, has four or five cards in 

the suit, of which this is 
lowest, or next to lowest, 
and represents the best suit 
of the hand. 

2, has not five trumps, nor 

ace and k., nor k. and 
qu. of any suit; has not 
tierce to knave ; may have 
a high card of the suit led. 

Second Hand. * 

Ace, excepting on has no more, 
k., qu., or kn. led, 

King on trump led, has but one more. 

King on plain suit, has ace, or no more. 

Queen, has k. or ace and 10, or 

no more. 

* See Preface to Sixth Edition, L. 



74 



American Whist. 



Knave, 


has qu. and ace, or is low- 




est of sequence, or has qu. 




and one other, or no more. 


10, 


has kn. and one small 




card, or no more. 


9, 


is lowest of sequence, or 




second to some high card, 




or no more. 


Any other* card, 


has none lower, or is be- 




ginning to call. 


Trumps a doubtful 


has not more than three 


trick, 


trumps. 


Does not trump a 


has four or more trumps. 


doubtful trick, 




Third Hand. 


Ace, 


has not k. or qu. 


King, 


has not qu. 


Queen, 


may have ace or k, but 




has not kn. 


Any other card, 


is the highest he has of 



the suit led, unless the 
lowest of a sequence, or 
unless he cannot play 
higher than a card on the 
table. 



The Game. 75 


Fourth Hand. 


Wins the trick, 


has no card which would 




take, lower than that he 




plays. 


Does not win the 


has no higher card than 


trick not already 


one played, or desires the 


his partner's, 


lead to remain with 




another player. 


Any card played, 


does not hold the card 




next below it, unless call- 




ing. 



is strong in trumps, and 
wants them led to him. 



Second, Third, or Fourth Player, 

Kefuses to trump a 
trick certainly 
against him, 

Any discard made is of the weakest suit held, 
upon partners 
play, 

Any discard made is of a strong suit, 
upon opponent's 
play, 

Discards the best has next best and entire 
of any suit, command. 



76 American Whist. 

Discards second best, has no more. 

Discards or plays, demands trump lead, 
when not trying 
to take a trick, 
at any time dur- 
ing the hand, a 
card of a suit, 
then one lower, 

Plays any card, has not the one next lower. 



WHIST THEORY. 



William Pole, F.RS., of London, who calls 
Short Whist the " modern scientific game," says in 
the introduction to his book : " There has been a 
great defect in the manner of teaching this system." 
And he proposes to remedy the defect utterly by 
the construction and instruction of a " fundamental 
theory," which, after an exceedingly well written 
defence of the long-suit system, is announced to 
be : " That the hands of the two partners shall not 
be played singly and independently, but shall be 
combined and treated as one ; and that in order to 
carry out most effectively this principle of combi- 
nation, each partner shall adopt the long-suit sys- 
tem as the general basis of his play." 

In the main the counsel is wise that advises the 
fellowship of the hands, and the adoption of the 
long-suit lead. But the brilliancy of whist is 
manifest in its independent play. One of the 
most accredited plays of Deschapelles consisted 
in trumping his partner's trick, and sending him 



78 American Whist. 

back a card to take at highest cost. Another spec- 
ulative play, to which his own name was giver., 
was made for the purpose of throwing the lead 
with the highest card of a suit to be taken by an 
opponent with one still higher. But the great 
player did not violate principle in the least. It 
may be said in reply that he combined the interest 
of his partners hand and his own for the most 
favorable results. So he did, but it was by the 
performance of a deliberate, venturesome act, for 
which a " theory " that proposes to regulate play, 
furnishes no explanation. 

An individual theory upon any subject-matter 
may be advanced. It is Mr. A.'s or Mr. B.'s 
opinion: each man may have his own; it is his 
privilege of speculation. The modus operandi, or 
" theory," as it is called, of some principle as 
exerted in a certain direction may be named as in 
accordance with or opposed to action taken by 
agreeing or discordant " theories." But the theory 
of a science, an art, a creed, or a game, means, if it 
means anything, an embodiment and exposition 
of all the laws and principles which direct and 
govern its practical administration. The theory 
embraces maximum information. When we tell 
of the theory of a subject, we mean its underlying 
principles and all the wealth of its understanding, 



Whist Theory. 79 



its value morally, religiously, intrinsically as an 
art, belief, or science. It is an easy matter to con- 
struct a so-called " theory ; " easiest, when there is 
little opposition to recognized assumptions. A 
man may be at much painstaking to transmute 
accepted regulations into discriminating state- 
ments, and call the result a " theory." " But a 
person who uses an imperfect theory, with the con- 
fidence due only to a perfect one, will naturally 
fall into an abundance of mistakes; his predic- 
tions will be crossed by disturbing circumstances, 
of which his theory is not able to take account, 
and his credit will be lowered by the failure." Dr. 
Pole's " theory " declares that two hands shall be 
combined and treated as one, but as practically 
that is impossible, unless the individual plays a 
dummy game, the positive declaration is not im- 
portant. The nearest approach to dual tactics that 
fact will allow, is in the gradual revealing of the 
situation of unplayed cards. Again, this " theory," 
trenching upon practice, may insist that the lead 
shall always be from the longest suit, in order to 
aid the theoretic idea of combination, but the in- 
genious player, choosing to reserve his strength, 
may win by practical management of which such 
" theory " does not dream. 

The " fundamental theory " of music is found in 



80 American Whist. 

the knowledge of harmony and melody, not in the 
employment of a certain scale, upon whose octaves 
all order of expression must be written. Heat is 
convertible into mechanical energy, but the manner 
of conversion is not the theory. Steam in theory 
is elastic, but the available plans for its use by 
Watts were but the elicitation of theory. The 
theory of life does not consist in giving instruc- 
tions how to live, but in presenting the principles 
upon which instructions are to be founded. The in- 
structions may at times be incorrectly drawn, and 
are susceptible of change, but the theory is im- 
mortal. 

Dr. Pole's " theory" in extenso makes compro- 
mise with the poor player and indorses modifica- 
tion of the "theory" itself. The plea that the poor 
player breaks the compact goes for nothing, for if 
Dr. Pole changes his own course of play to accom- 
modate another course of play he continues to 
play, as he understands it, the game of whist, but 
does not obey his own " theory." 

Of course we are aware that excuses must be 
offered for non-submission to this " theory," as in 
the event of having a poor partner, or when some 
special play is to be made, but the excuses and the 
necessity for making them, or for any disobeyal 
whatever of principle declared, prove the objec- 



Whist Theory. 81 



tions to calling an active, practical rule, a "theory/ 1 
For a theory is in no wise to be changed by prac- 
tice. The " theory of play " or what is better, the 
theory of rule of play, is quite another matter. If 
it be argued that the attempt shall always be made 
on the part of each player to play his partner's 
hand as best he may in common with his own, and 
that, in order to a mutual understanding, the long- 
suit lead is proper, that is A.'s or B.'s plan to 
insure the most tricks and is a regulation for the 
game in practice. If this were all, if this was 
the "fundamental theory" of the game of whist, 
wherein shall we have brilliant play that may at 
any moment sacrifice partner and rule ? What 
need of laws for practice-honoring principles, if 
theory is satisfied by the obeyal of but one ? Is 
not theory the sum of principles to be applied, and 
practice the manner of application ? 

The misapprehension of terms is shown by an 
anecdote of a financier, who explained to certain 
capitalists that in a contemplated venture they 
could not make money beyond the expenditure. 
"That is all well enough theoretically," said one 
of the parties, " but how is it practically ? " 

"Practice is the exercise of an art or the ap- 
plication of a science in life, which application is 
itself an art, for it is not every one who is able to 

6 



82 American WhisL 

apply all he knows, there being required over and 
above knowledge a certain dexterity and skill. 
Theory, on the contrary, is mere knowledge or sci- 
ence. There is a distinction but no opposition 
between theory and practice ; each to a certain ex- 
tent supposes the other. On the one hand, theory 
is dependent upon practice ; practice must have 
preceded theory, for theory being only a general- 
ization of the principles on which practice is 
founded, these must originally have been taken 
out of, or abstracted from practice. On the other 
hand, this is true only to a certain extent, for there 
is no practice without a theory. Theory is simply 
a knowledge of the principles by which practice 
accomplishes its end." 

Dr. Pole's "theory" may be said to be his 
" theory " for playing his game, but we do not ac- 
cept a rule of practice as the theory of the game 
of whist. We cannot consent to that definition 
of the words "principles of whist" which only 
conveys a direction as to the advisability of adopt- 
ing a regulation. 

Suppose, for instance, that it were demonstrated 
that any plan which has yet been proposed for the 
play of Whist by routine, was not as scientific 
or interesting as one that forced each individual 
player to regard his own manner for making tricks, 



Whist Theory. 83 



apart from what any other one might do to frus- 
trate or assist, and that each, made so dependent 
upon his own memory and skill, forced from part- 
ner or opponent such following as should benefit 
his own particular plan, he to be in turn compelled 
to yield to others* manner of play ; if the game was 
played honestly, harmoniously, and silently, the 
theory of whist would not be changed, but the 
practice only. 

The question that is sometimes put : What is 
the theory of American or Standard Whist ? is not 
improper or unexpected. Whist is a partnership 
game at cards played in silence, in which, more 
than in any other, intellectual acumen and the use 
of memory are demanded. When converse during 
the play is denied ; judgment exercised as to what 
course of play will win the largest number of 
tricks ; skill shown in determining how best to act 
when written regulations, not laws, are disregarded, 
as well as how to act in conformity to rule ; ob- 
servance made of routine and departure from it ; 
inference drawn from, and reasons assigned for, the 
player's action; and honorable conduct assumed 
throughout ; the theory of whist is expressed in 
practice. When it is stated that these principles 
and the decrees that govern practice must be 
obeyed, that partners shall enjoy their interests 



84 American Whist. 

in common and agree to conditions that are just, 
its theory of law is written. All minor exposi- 
tion of principle in play is recital of its deeds. 
Whist is eminently practical, following intellectual 
guidance, but not submitting to autocratic rules. 
Whist theory announces the existence and knowl- 
edge of a game whose value by mental application 
can be ascertained, and the fundamental principles 
upon which the management of that game is to be 
conducted, to which the players must conform, and 
not the regulations for its play which, though gen- 
erally adhered to, may at times be disregarded. 
The rules are not a part of the theory, since that 
can admit of no modification. The theory, the 
principles, the laws, must not err in any particular. 
The rules that are for practical use are at the 
mercy of the judgment of the player. 



"In the first place," says "Cavendish" of Clay, "what 
particularly struck me was the extreme brilliancy of his 
game." Of this the following coup played by him is a 
beautiful illustration : The cards lie thus : Clay has 
knave, 8, 4, clubs (trumps), ace, king, and two small 
diamonds. Diamonds have not been led. Three other 
trumps in, 9, 6, 3, and they are all in the hand at 
Clay's right. This is certain, as the other players have 
not followed suit in trumps. Clay has the lead, and 



Whist Theory. 



85 



requires every trick to save the game. It is clear that, 
if his right-hand adversary plays properly, that play- 
er must eventually make a trick in trumps. It is 
also demonstrable that, if Clay makes the usual lead 
of king, then ace, of diamonds, right-hand adversary 
must make a trick. In this position I venture to say 
that ninety-nine players, and good players, out of an 
hundred, would lead king of diamonds, which is the 
book play. Not so Clay. He observes that his only 
chance is to depart from rule. He must put the lead 
into his partner's hand, find him with a forcing card, 
and the right-hand adversary must make the mistake 
of trumping it. Clay, therefore, throws rule (not theory) 
altogether aside, and leads a small diamond. His part- 
ner wins with knave and leads the best spade, which is 
trumped. Clay over-trumps, and leads another small 
diamond to endeavor to put the lead again into his 
partner's hand. His partner wins this trick also, and 
leads a winning card, which the adversary trumps, is 
over-trumped, has his last trump drawn, and the king 
and ace of diamonds make. The hands are subjoined, 
as it is not easy to appreciate the coup from mere de- 
scription : — 



A. 


C. 


Kn. 8, 4, c. 


5, 4 s. 


Ace, K, 5, 2 d. 


6, 5 h. 




8, 7, 4 d. 



B. 


D. 


10, 9, 6 s. 


9, 6, 3 c. 


Qu., Kn., 6, 3 d. 


Qu., 3 h. 




10, 9 d, 



Dr. Pole's " theory " is utterly discarded in this 
exhibition of superior play, for Clay's design was 



86 American Whist. 

to himself alone apparent. His partner could play 
no otherwise than as forced to do, and neither the 
rule for combination nor for book-direction play 
from long-suit came into the account. 

" Let me give an example," says " Cavendish," " of 
how whist ought to be played. I led from five trumps. 
After two rounds the fall of the cards showed that all 
the remaining trumps were with my partner and myself, 
two in his hand and three in mine. One other suit 
had been played and was exhausted from our hands. I 
now had three trumps, iucluding the winning trump, 
and three cards in each of the unplayed suits. Not 
liking to open a suit of three cards, and having no in- 
dication of my partner's suit, I led a losing trump that 
my partner might get the lead and open his strong suit. 
He could have won the trick, but played a lower trump. 
I knew from his not winning the trick that he also had 
three cards in each of the unplayed suits, as he would 
have penetrated my design, and if he had a four-card 
suit would have won the trick. At the end of the hand 
I said, i When you did not win my third trump I knew 
we could do no good, as you must hold three cards in 
each of the unplayed suits/ 6 Yes, I saw that very 
well when you led a losing trump, for you must hold 
three cards in each of the other suits. , Thus we each 
counted the number of cards the other held in two suits, 
neither of which had been played. This is whist." 

Yes, this is whist, whist in strict accord with the 
judgment which theory demands of practice, and 



Whist Theory. 87 

in no wise amenable to written rule. If it be said 
that the partners understood each other's hands, 
and combination was thereby preserved, we answer 
that such knowledge was not induced by any play 
made in agreement with book-rule, or foreshadowed 
by Dr. Pole's " theory." 

"J. C.'s" "Treatise" is practical throughout, 
making no reference to theory. Drayson, too, is 
concerned with the playing of the game, for he is 
logical enough to know that theory is expressive 
of principle, to the consideration of which a differ- 
ent order of thinking and writing must be applied. 
" Cavendish " sees a proper dissimilitude between 
theory and practice, and says : — 

" In order thoroughly to investigate the theory and 
to arrive at the principles of whist, mathematics and 
careful reasoning have to be employed. The theory may 
now indeed be learned readily enough from books, but 
the practice, to be of the first order, involves a great 
variety of accomplishments. To apply the theory of 
whist successfully, the player must note the peculiarities 
of partners and of opponents, that is, he must study 
human nature. He must use observation, memory, in- 
ference, and judgment in such a way as to enable him 
to trace appearances to their true origin." 

If he pays an intentional compliment to Dr. 
Pole when he says, "the theory may now be 



88 American Whist. 

learned from books," he does not see, or does not 
care to see, that he has virtually disarmed the 
compliment of truth. 

It requires no argument to show that if a theory- 
is correct, practice must conform to it ; and there 
is no necessity for argument to prove that theory is 
not a rule of practice, but the knowledge and prin- 
ciple upon which the rules are based. If whist 
is a great game of wondrous combinations and 
results, demanding a high order of intelligence to 
interpret its manifold problems, it is ill satisfied 
to have an accepted rule of performance considered 
as its theory, whose principles warrant other modes 
of illustration at times as politic as that which sets 
up a claim of exclusiveness. 



It is at once evident to every player of American 
Whist that as we discard "honors" and "five 
points," together with all attempt at information 
by partners talking to each other, and all interrup- 
tions, we cannot transact the business of the game in 
similar manner to that practiced by the players of 
Short Whist. In that game, if the parties have one 
point each, one player who holds four "honors" 
holds the game. His opponents may ever so skil- 
fully make three by cards, but their good play goes 



Whist Theory. 89 

for nothing : his luck counts. It is as a straight 
flush in poker. 

It has already been said that American Whist is 
founded upon the foreign game. We gladly accept 
the rules that the excellent players of that game 
have given us. We hold that the rule which Dr. 
Pole asserts as his " fundamental theory/' is one of 
the best that was ever practiced by " Cavendish," 
"J. C."and others, before Pole wrote upon and deified 
it. We only claim the right to act in accordance with 
it or to disobey it, without in any wise affecting our 
loyalty to the theory of whist ; as in the latitude of 
our game we have the extended opportunity of 
making the most tricks, and in the most acceptable 
manner. In our game, as in theirs, the practice of 
this rule is of great moment. We believe in know- 
ing of our partner's hand at the earliest opportu- 
nity, and of playing our own in harmony with it. 
We believe that in order to give and obtain that 
information the long-suit lead is the best, and we 
constantly practice it. But we have seven points 
to make, and not five only, and care nothing for 
the knowledge that our partner holds pictures, 
unless he takes tricks with them. If one or more 
of them is taken by one or more that rank as 
better, we look for the game to us to come from the 
scientific play of other or of lower cards. We do 



90 American Whist. 

not therefore lead to ascertain if our partner has 
an "honor," that circumstance to determine our 
success. Now we draw the lines between princi- 
ple and rule, between theory and practice. Our 
practice shall at all times honor our theory, while 
distinct from it. Our principle must remain invio- 
late, but our rule for general, not especial use, may 
be broken on occasion. 

We adopt from the foreign codes the best rules 
that they embody, and reject the rest. We add 
such rules as seem proper to us, to be in the gen- 
eral obeyed. We hope always to have good reason 
for our action when we do not follow them. 



WHIST PRACTICE. 



Study and become familiar with the laws and 
leads. Play printed games, with the cards before 
you. Understand the reason for each play. Play 
practice games with good players. They will not 
deceive you by false play, but will always be at 
their best, as if you were an expert. Make close 
inquiry concerning any play that you do not com- 
prehend. Determine, whenever you take a seat at 
a whist table, whether for the regular or the prac- 
tice game, to play in the most correct manner 
every card that you may hold. Never know of 
good hands, or of poor ones. It will not happen 
in the course of the play of any hand which 
may be dealt you, that there is no opportunity of 
making a particularly correct play, the nature or 
effect of which, a careless player would not appre- 
ciate. The credit lies in playing each hand prop- 
erly. Eemember, in the regular game, that whist is 
the game of silence that none may break, and of 
calculation that none may disturb. Consider that 



92 A merican Whist. 

you are one of four who are about to play, to the 
best of their ability, the most intellectual game in 
the world. When the trump card is turned, take 
up your hand, sort it quickly, place the trumps 
always in the same relative position, count your 
cards, think how many and what tricks you will 
attempt to take, look at the trump card and 
remember it, consult the score, and see what you 
must gain or must save ; hold up your hand, and 
when it is your turn to lead or follow, cast the card 
you care to play, upon the centre of the table, caus- 
ing no more noise than it makes in falling. 

Watch the play and remember each detail of it 
as long through the hand as it is of consequence 
for you to do so. Discipline and make good use 
of an excellent memory. You cannot play whist 
without it. Draw your inferences as the cards fall 
as to what is meant by the play of each. If the 
card is turned upon your right, generally lead from 
your strongest suit. The card that is played at the 
opening of a game, or is the first of any hand, may 
be specially significant. A deuce of a plain suit 
confesses abject poverty. A nine argues one good 
suit at least. A trump of any denomination shows 
strength and intimates good cards to follow. Lead 
according to the rule that proposes to cover the 
hand you hold, unless in your judgment with ref- 



Whist Practice. 93 

erence to the score and a certainty as to loss or 
gain of certain cards, you had best open a different 
game, in which case you assume the responsibility 
of both attack and defence. In no wise deceive 
your partner to his injury. If you have the game 
by a certain play, make it, regardless of book or 
creed. The business is to make the tricks. It is 
almost useless to add, after all that has been said 
about adhering in general to the prescribed leads 
and followings, that it is best to be guided by the 
rules. When your judgment approves the printed 
forms, (and it almost always will do so, when the 
cards run with tolerable regularity,) follow them; 
when you hold certain cards at a peculiar juncture, 
of suit and denomination not contemplated by 
printed directions, or if the books indicate a stereo- 
typed play at such a time, and you have a point 
to gain by brilliant strategy, let your knowledge of 
the game and foreknowledge of the probable con- 
sequences of your play, take precedence of book 
direction. A coup over which Deschapelles ex- 
ulted, was a courageous lead followed by indepen- 
dent, brilliant play. 

If your partner takes the first trick that belongs 
to your side, you are to gather the cards that com- 
pose it. 

Carefully look for your partner's call at all 



94 American Whist. 

stages of the game, whenever it is possible he may 
care to make it. 

As carefully note which of the adversaries call, 
if either, and if the call is echoed. 

The language of the lead is to inform your part- 
ner of the best suit that you hold and as near as 
may be of the quality of that suit. If you throw 
k. of clubs and it wins, and follow with 9 of spades, 
trumps, your partner is by two leads apprised of a 
powerful hand which asks his assistance, but in no- 
wise his control. In general, having six trumps, 
lead them. Having five and probable success in 
other suits, lead them. Having a long plain suit, 
lead from it. Never be afraid of changing suits, 
when practicable. Never lead a nine holding ace 
or queen of a suit. Never lead it unless you have 
k. and kn. of the suit, and always lead it to desig- 
nate the holding of those cards. "When the score 
is low on both sides and the hand from which you 
are to lead is regular, rules may be pretty strin- 
gently applied, but when one card is to be made 
and the hand from which the lead is to come is 
irregular or peculiar, past the giving of information 
in appropriate direction, the player must econo- 
mize his resources at the expense of rule that in- 
dorses or recommends routine action. It is more 
frequently the case that the player gains from the 



Whist Practice. 95 

disregard of book rule, knowing when and how to 
make the most of his especial hand, than that the 
mere routine player succeeds by closest adherence 
to printed rule. Whist is not machinery to be set 
to certain pegs and told to go. 

[ See chapters under head of " Cavendish " and 
11 J. C." for analysis of regulations in play.] 



"I wish that you would tell me who of this Club 
you call a prime whist-player/' said a visitor. " I 
want to look upon a man who is exceptional. " 
An introduction was given and he made inquiry, 
" Wherein does a man prove his superiority in 
whist ? " " By knowing ivhat to play," was the 
answer. " Most men at a practice-game say, and 
at a regular game think, ' I do not know ivhat to 
play/ The true player Jcnovjs what to lead and 
how to follow. He always has a reason for what 
lie does. He makes his calculations at once upon 
sorting his hand. When it is his play he deliber- 
ately, never hurriedly, selects a card and throws 
it. All the rest of the time his eyes are on the 
table. 

"But does such a man find a mate who can follow 
him, interpreting what he plays ? " " Sometimes, 



g6 American Whist. 

and when it is not understood, his fine play is of 
small account. Styles of play are very different, 
while all at times are given to systematic move- 
ment. The English play a game of chance. They 
trust to ' honors ' for a large part of their success. 
They play a short game and a smart tell-tale game 
for a purpose. Brilliant play with them is very 
occasional. We have scope for speculation, and 
as cards that do not take do not count, have no 
fear of losing unless our adversaries' cards are bet- 
ter played than ours. Whist with us is the great 
game that it is, because it affords this liberty to 
players and furnishes such opportunity for calcu- 
lation. When a man stands in fear of a proclama- 
tion of two or four by c honors ' he is liable, to 
say the least, to playa sort of humdrum game to 
try to gain an odd trick, which after all may be of 
no service. If you will place the cards of a hand 
which I will name, and play them by the London 
mode, and then play them by the American, you 
will see that one game is a kind of ( High, Low, 
Jack/ while the other has rewarded your skill in 
the effort of making but a single point. Again, if 
you will place the cards of a hand played hurried- 
ly by average American players, with four leading 
ones, you may note that certain tricks will be 
taken by such adroit manoeuvring as would as- 



Whist Practice. 97 

tonish the first set, could they but comprehend the 
reason' for such action." 

" But I have heard it said that with such and 
such cards held, poor players would make as many 
tricks as good ones could do. Is it true that two 
good players opposed to two ordinary ones can 
make the most points in each game, or only in the 
long run ? " 

" It is oftentimes true that as many points can 
be made by merely throwing down the kings and 
aces on each side, and letting the small cards come 
in by and by as best they may, as could be made 
when two good players are pitted against two ordi- 
nary ones. While the business of whist is to make 
the tricks, the pleasure of play is in the manner oi 
making them. It is true that two good players 
may not make headway in an entire evening oi 
rubbers against two antagonists who do not know 
the game. Good players must play against good 
players in order to make their own game a success. 
To play against ordinary ones is to play a game of 
guesswork, for they have not judgment concerning 
your action, and will trust to luck. The game of 
whist is only played when the nice points in it are 
considered, and the satisfaction it gives, is in the 
fact that in gaining those points, correct and bril- 
liant play is elicited. This is not understood by 

7 



98 American Whist 

the ordinary player and that is why he should 
study and practice in order to compete. When a 
man has studied and practiced up to the point of 
playing a really fine game, he is the first to tell of 
his inefficiency in the days when he thought he had 
a knowledge of whist. A great difficulty is expe- 
rienced by parties who urge their friends to read 
and study and practice whist. The average player 
is quite satisfied that he plays as well as any one 
need to do, and will not work up and out a situa- 
tion because it takes too long and the drill is un- 
interesting. His manner of play is well enough 
for him, but the expert who watches it, is as much 
amused as the accomplished linguist who listens 
to the stutterings of a novice in Greek." 



" J. C." says, " A little learning is a dangerous thing 
at our game. Better far to know nothing and to play 
your cards like the blind man." 

If players who think that they know whist, but 
who do not know what to do at any exigency of the 
game, who do not know just what card is proper to 
play and can give a reason for its play, would con- 
sider " J. C.'s " statement and resolve to learn in 



Whist Practice. 99 

future, the well-laid plans of their fine partners 
would not so frequently come to naught. 

Have a reason for every play that you make. — 
Deschapelles. 



Perhaps there is no more uncomfortable situation 
than that in which a good player is placed when his 
designs well planned by a peculiar process of play 
are frustrated through the ignorance of a partner 
who thinks all the time that he is doing right, and 
who confidently asserts at the end of a hand, " Well, 
we made all there was to make out of that. I think 
we did not lose a trick." There is nothing to be 
said in reply. It is possible that just as many tricks 
were made or perhaps within one of as many as if 
the fine finesse had been appreciated, but there is 
small satisfaction to the keen manager to know 
that blundering overthrew his work and accident 
accomplished a plan. This sort of self-satisfied per- 
sons one must meet at the clubs and at residences. 
They admit that whist is a game that demands and 
deserves study, but they do not even get the laws 
by heart, and the necessity of regarding the table 
and not their hand, when playing, they will recog- 
nize no more than they will the direction that 
would preserve silence while others think. Eule3 



ioo American WhisL 

cannot be written for these, — they will obey none. 
If yon play with them you must suffer, because 
of their indiscretion. They should play practice 
games, but as they are satisfied that they can do 
well enough, and only make occasional mistakes, 
they will never understand the superior sense of 
satisfaction that is felt by those who play well. 
Of course it follows that good players only delight 
to play with good players, still they must at times 
make part of an uncertain table, and give and 
receive as much enjoyment as it can afford. Could 
it but be made to appear to those excellent hosts 
who ask you to come and make up a table, that 
they would be so much more delightful compan- 
ions if they would but take pains to inform them- 
selves how to realize the enjoyment that genuine 
whist confers upon its votaries, there would dawn 
a new era of extension and reception of hospitality. 



There are no rules for poor players. They are 
to become good players by attention to the rules 
that good players observe, or they are to continue 
poor players and be classed as such. Nor are there 
any rules than those already known to good players 
when playing with poor ones, for they are to do 
their best to educate the poor ones in all that is 



Whist Practice. 101 

correct iii play. We recommend practice-games, 
in which instruction can be given while the hands 
are being played. They who are not willing to 
study and practice should not attempt to play with 
experts. In practice-games the laws of play are 
strictly observed; those concerning conversation 
and errors suspended. A good player should never 
change his course of play established as correct 
when his hand is assorted, for any vagary of his 
uninformed partner. 

The elements of whist are the elements of grandeur. 
— Lecontiee. 

He lowers himself and injures his reputation 
who falsifies his hand to the opponents merely 
because his whilom partner may not understand 
what is correct. What would be thought of any 
one of three men who took an ambitious fourth 
into occasional business council, and who changed 
his cherished policy of right to the deliberate 
doing of wrong, merely to keep pace with the 
action of the uninstructed new comer ? 



Study and practice are equally required. No 
man from mere reading makes a player. No man 
from mere playing makes a player. Men are too 



102 American Whist. 

impatient and desire to learn at once. Whist is 
like confidence, a plant of slow growth ; a limited 
quantity of reading or of playing will not do. A 
man may learn the early leads from the book, and 
put his information into practice. When he has 
played one half his hand he is ignorant what to do 
with the rest of it, and the worth of the player is 
tested more in the management of his last cards 
than of the first. It is the usual occurrence that 
during the play of the last four or five rounds in 
each hand, the best players make the trick which 
they force the antagonists to lose. Drayson 
says: 

" As each card falls the play becomes more difficult, 
and greater skill is required, so that a good player who 
has read the book may play half the hand as well as a 
skilful player, but when the last half of the cards have 
to be played, the unobservant or stupid player loses 
generally one and often two tricks." 

It is very 'seldom the case that a hand is held 
which somewhere during its play cannot assist at 
a crisis, and he is the good player who does him- 
self justice at such time. 



When your partner renounces a suit, do not fail to 
ask him whether he is sure that he has none of it. If 



Whist Practice. 103 

he revokes, and you have neglected this precaution, the 
fault is as much yours as it is his. — [Clay's " Maxims."] 

The rule that plans to relieve one partner at the 
expense of the other is selfish beyond measure, and 
therefore execrable. If your partner does you a 
service, you accept it ; if he makes an error, you 
must accept that also. If he trumps at the right 
time and makes the game, it is your game and his; 
if he revokes accidentally, it is your loss and his. 
You are not worthy to be the partner of a gentle- 
man at a whist table unless, having accepted him, 
you stand by him and his play. Beside, it is 
undue interference. If the man knows his busi- 
ness, he wants no reminders. You have no more 
right to ask him if he has no card of a given suit 
than you have to ask him to lead you a trump or to 
take a certain trick. In fact, you have no right to 
speak at all, and must be fined a point if you do 
so, in which fine he must share the payment for 
your folly. 



If your partner refuses to trump a winning card, 
lead him, if you can, a strengthening trump. 



Consider the situations of the game in all par- 
ticulars, and if you want your partner tc trump a 



104 American Whist. 

certain card, force him by playing it. If he does 
not take the force, but discards, you are informed 
of his strength or weakness, and must avoid another 
force. It may be advisable to gain the odd trick 
that he should, as you think, make a trump upon 
your lead. He will judge his own hand, and per- 
haps pass, that he may take two, instead of one, or, 
taking no risk, make sure of one. The number or 
the value of trumps in your own hand has nothing 
to do with your action. A good player will see 
your intent. 



Avoid leading from a suit of which both advei- 
saries have none, for one will discard and the other 
trump, and the drawing of the trump will not 
probably do you as much service as the fall of the 
card thrown away will do you injury. 



When you return your partner's lead, if you had 
originally but three cards of the suit (you must 
have played one, and now hold two), lead the 
highest ; if you had four or more originally, lead 
a low one. Thus, if you held king, knave, and 7, 
and took at third hand with king, you return 



Whist Practice. 105 



the knave, he knows that you have but one small 
one, or no more. If you had the 3 beside, return 
the 3; when you, by and by, play the 7, he 
knows you have another, and can probably name 
it. The knave may be most important for him to 
count upon as twelfth or thirteenth card. 



The reason why you play a small card second 
hand, when holding queen, knave, and two others, 
is that the queen and knave may make, but you 
play knave second, having but one small one, 
for the chance of both high cards making is very 
smalL 



With ace, 10, and another, second hand, pass a 
queen led. The leader can have no better than 
knave, 9, and others, and you hold tenace over 
them. If it should be that your partner has king, 
your adversary may make no trick in his suit. 



If a low card is led on your right, and you 
hold ace and two small ones, play a low one, and 



106 American Whist. 

if knave is played third and queen fourth, and 
the lead of a low one should again come from 
your right, you can play the low one with im- 
punity. 0. cannot have king or 10, and your part- 
ner must have one of them. 



" Cavendish " tells us that it does not fall to an 
individual player's lot to have the grand coup pre- 
sentment but once in several thousand games. It 
is of the same tendency and requirement always. 
At the B Club, a few evenings since, the fol- 
lowing was held and played : — 

Score. A. and B., 6. C. and D., 6. Spades 
trumps. A. and B. had 3 tricks ; C. and D., 6. 
A. and B. must make all the rest. 

A. had k., 10, 3 spades, 7 clubs. 

B. had 10, 6 dia., qu. hearts, kn. clubs. 
D. had kn., 8 spades, 4 hearts, 10 clubs. 

B. led the qu. of hearts. A. saw that if he 
threw away his club, he must take the next trick, 
and, leading, could take but one more, for he knew 
that D. had the two spades. He had but one 
chance for all the tricks. He trumped the best 
heart and led the small club. 



Whist Practice. 107 

Having two or three trumps, in answer to your 
partner's call, play the highest ; having four, play 
lowest ; having five, next to lowest ; unless in the 
two latter cases you have commanding trumps. 



" So play that you may tell your partner of what 
suit you have the most, and make your calculations to 
play his cards as well as your own as soon as you can 
be informed what they are." 

This is indisputably good advice in a majority of 
cases, as when your suits are in about even number 
of cards, your trumps but three or four, or in refer- 
ence to hands of not too irregular formation ; but 
suppose your trumps are six or seven in number, 
your plain suits from singleton to long, are made up 
of impossibilities to take tricks. Your English rule 
says, play a trump : no matter what comes of it, 
you must emphasize that trump possession. Would 
it not be well to decide, " We want so many tricks, 
my partner may have such or such a card or cards, 
I will play my own hand properly and call my 
partner's assistance for the making of our game ? " 
In other words, consider this the proper method of 
playing whist. In accordance with the hand you 
hold, play that hand or your partner's. Play for 



io8 American Whist. 

yourself or play for him. Under certain circum- 
stances, and they are not few in number, by the 
attempt to play two hands you may be confounded. 
Be satisfied that he is a good whist-player who 
can play his own hand correctly. Follow the 
system of mutual co-operation certainly, when in 
your judgment you esteem it to be best, but re- 
member that as rules cannot be made to cover all 
cases, that judgment must be supreme. 

Eules are for the majority of cases, not for excep- 
tional positions, and a player is good, very good, or 
of the highest class, in proportion to the rapidity and 
acuteness with which he seizes the occasions when rule 
must be disregarded. These occasions are so many and 
so different that practice and very accurate observation 
alone can master them. — ["J. C." ] 

What is required by the game of whist is to 
make the tricks, not to mind the books. In very 
many cases the book leads are right, and you are 
not unreasonably to play contrary to their dicta- 
tion; but do not surrender your common sense 
to a regulation. A lead may be as grand a coup 
as a follow, and if you are playing with a man 
who understands the game he will not look for 
set tactics if he knows you capable of ingenious 
ones. In any event, it may be that you could 
not so play as to know much of his hand until 



Whist Practice. 109 

several rounds. Meantime, you may have lost 
the advantage that a brilliant play would have 
insured. He watches each play and all develop- 
ments, and if you have undertaken a daring game 
be sure he will assist you in carrying it on. We 
know that this will be understood by good players 
as we mean to have it understood. It will be met 
by objections on the part of all who play by book- 
rule alone, and to whom the iron-clad regulations 
make uniformity of play a necessity. But we pre- 
sent, that first a king and then a queen and then 
an ace, the latter renounced and trumped, while 
two others, not the best, are retained, does not rep- 
resent the best part of whist-playing. 



Technical " mutual co-operation " means getting 
out the trumps if you have a number, and telling 
your partner as quickly and as often as possible 
what cards you hold. Sometimes it is as credit- 
able to make the tricks by the right use of those 
cards, not having been at painstaking to announce 
them 



When trumps are declared against you, discard 
from your best suit. When your partner has 



no American Whist. 

strength in trumps, throw the lowest card of the 
weakest suit, unless you have command of a suit, 
in which case throw the highest of that suit. 



When your partner has led a king that was taken 
by the ace, and you are by and by to return his 
lead, you holding kn. and a small one, play the 
kn. ; but if 0. led the k., play the small one. 0. 
will probably put on qu., and you remain with the 
best card. 



If you have led a small card from qu., 10, and 
others, and your .partner takes with the k. and re- 
turns a small card of that suit, you know that the 
ace is on your left, and play 10, not qu., for if kn. is 
in same hand, both will make, but if only ace is 
there, the 10 will bring it, and leave you in com- 
mand. 



If your partner leads a kn., it is useless to play 
k. upon it, unless second hand has played qu. for 
ace, and qu. in fourth hand will make at any rate, 
and you know that your partner has neither ace 
nor qu. 



Whist Practice. in 

When one trick is wanted, and you hold k. and 
two small trumps, do not play k. third hand, unless 
the ace has been played, but let the trick be taken 
by last player. Tour guarded k. must give you the 
needed trick. 



The law of silence is imposed in whist, that the 
status of the cards may be noted and remembered. 
If you lead a small trump, holding ace, qu., and 
three others, second hand renounces, your partner 
plays the 9, and fourth hand takes with k., you see 
at once that your partner has kn. and 10. If 
fourth hand, now leader, returns the suit to draw 
two for one, you should play low one, and let 
your partner take and send you back the kn., as he 
will see that you want trumps out, or you would 
have stopped, the play with queen, that he knows 
you hold. 



Quick observance and tenacious memory, unin- 
terfered with by talk, enables management to suc- 
ceed. 

Other things being equal, the one who best recollecta 
the cards played, and by whom played, will make the 
best player. — Ames. 



IT2 American WhisL 



Diamonds trumps. You have led the 6 of 
clubs, from five; ace, qu., 8, and 4 remaining. 
The k. was played second; your partner threw 
the 9 and D. the 2. On the next trick, in hearts, 
D., renouncing, threw the 7 of clubs. He has 
not the 5 nor the 3. Your partner must have 
one of these, and is calling for trumps. C. can 
have but one, and threw k. to get the lead, or he 
has no more ; the knave and 10 are probably with 
your partner. 



Hearts trumps, qu. turned on your right. You 
have ace, 10, 7, 4, 3, and lead the 4. 0. plays the 
8, B. the k., and D. the 5. B. returns the 9 ; D. 
plays the 6. You should see at once that your 
partner has the 2. C. has no more. If he had kn. 
he would have played it second. D. passed the 9, 
that you might play the ace. By finessing your 
partner's 9 you must take one of D.'s high cards. 

The significance of the 9, as the representative 
of k. and kn., is, of course, lost when not the orig- 
inal lead of a suit. 



B. leads k. of diamonds. D. plays 6, A. 5, C. 9. 
B. plays kn., D. 7, A. 8, C. 10. B. holds all the 
diamonds in play. 



Whist Practice. 113 

Clubs trumps. B. leads k. of hearts. D. plays 
2, A. 6, C. trumps, and leads a spade, which D. 
takes and returns a heart. A. 7, C, trumps, B., ace. 
You are strong in trumps, and suppose that D. is ; 
your play is to get out the trumps, and return B. 
the last heart you have, the 9. 



If your partner leads the 10, and the kn. is 
played second, you holding k., you know that ace, 
qu., are at your right, or ace at your left, and that 



B. led from highest of three. 



If your partner lead the 6, the 4 is played 
second, and you win with qu., you know that 
neither ace nor king is on your left, but that one of 
them is on your right. 



If you lead qu., holding kn., 10, and small ones, 
the ace is played second, a small one third, and the 
9 fourth ; the k., with others, is in your partner's 
hand, or alone on your right. If the suit is not 
returned by C, you or your partner should throw 
the lead for advantage. 

8 



114 American Whist 

Be assured if it ever happens that a fine player 
takes his seat to play where talking is allowed, 
in the free and easy game, which is only playing 
at whist, you will never hear him ask, What is 
trumps? who dealt? who took that trick? let. me 
see that play ? or any other thing that can be con- 
strued into want of attention. 



We have watched the common game, at which 
players talked, and seen a player throw k., then ace. 
"Ah! let me see that trick a minute, ,, as his part- 
ner turned the second. "You played the 6." 
" Yes," rather feebly from the partner, who was, of 
course, aware such action is transparent. First 
player, having become satisfied that his partner 
did not want trumps, and having told everybody 
else as plainly as if he had spoken it, that he 
played k. and ace, expecting or hoping for his part 
ner's call, throws another card, and settles hack in 
his chair, a disappointed man. He thinks he is 
playing whist. His knowledge extends to the 
trump call, and ends there. 



A man leads a low card from an ace, and, noting 
partner's play, stretches forward before fourth hand 



Whist Practice. 115 

plays, to gather in the trick, exclaiming, " Tour k., 
partner/' which, being interpreted, signifies, " 1 led 
from the ace ; nobody can take this trick." This 
person calls himself a whist-player. 



At some of the Clubs we hear a player say, 
" Partner, have you no club ? " and the reply, " No ; 
let me see. No, I have looked over again. No, I 
have not a club." This is interesting. They 
think that they are playing whist. For the trouble 
is, that people who do not understand the game, 
cannot keep their mouths closed, and pay attention 
to what they are doing. Not to be able to vent 
their feelings is agony unbearable. All Short 
Whist players, by rule, lift the safety valve. 



Here are three hands, not difficult, but only the 
good player knows by the score which card to lead 
from each. A's hand is given, and it is his lead : — 

A. and B. 6. C. and D. 5. Diamonds trumps, 

K. turned. 

Qu., 8, 6 spades. 

Qu., Kn., 10 hearts. 

Qu., 5, 3 clubs. 

Ace, Qu., 8, 4 diamonds. 



n6 American Whist. 

A. and B. 5. C. D. 5. Hearts trumps, 9. 

Kn., 7, 4 spades. 

K. 3, 2 diamonds. 

Ace, 6 clubs. 

Ace, Qu., 10, 8, 4 hearts. 

A. and B. 5. C. and D. 6. Spades trumps, Kn. 
turned. 

4, 3, 2 hearts. 

K 7, 5 clubs. 

9, 8 diamonds. 

Ace, Qu., 8, 6, 4 spades. 



There are few instances in which it is proper to 
lead a singleton. Some players say, "Never do it," 
but the score, and ability of the hand must decide 
your course. 



Holding quart to k, k. is proper to be led and 
not 10. From qu. or kn., quart or tierce, the ar- 
gument for the lead of the highest is indisputable. 
If you play qu. and partner holds ace and others, 
he will not play ace. If k. is played second, he 
does play ace and your suit is free. If the k. with 
another is at your right, no play of yours can pre- 



Whist Practice. 117 

vent the k. from making. If second hand holds 
k. and does not play it, you follow qu. with kn., 
and on that trick or the next, the k. will proba- 
bly fall. But if you play 10 at the outset, your 
partner takes with ace, and the k. commands the 
suit. 



A literal sequence may be of two cards, but in 
whist parlance, it means three or more of value 
consecutive, either of which can be taken only in 
its own suit by a card higher than the highest oi 
the three. 



The leader must play coups as w T ell as the fol- 
lower. Brilliant play is well-judged digression 
from routine play. It is the partner's business to 
watch for and interpret this. The gain that is 
worthily made is made by skill. The tricks that 
are made by calculation denote the player. 



Independently of the fact that a lead from a long 
suit is better than one from a short suit, because it 
informs your partner, your own hand is benefited 
by such play. Suppose you have ace, qu., and 4 of 
hearts, 10 and four small clubs, ace and two small 



n8 American Whist. 

spades, trumps, and qu., kn. diamonds. If you 
play the penultimate in clubs your hand is intact 
for use in all the other suits. If your partner 
plays qu., holding k, and D. takes with the ace 
and leads a diamond, his long suit and your short 
one, your kn., may take a trick or pave the way 
for the qu. to do so, although you have but two. 



Positive observance of the cards as they fall 
upon the table is a necessity. 

At tables where the burlesque of whist is per- 
formed, a player intent upon his hand when he 
should have watched the play calls out, " Was that 
your 5, Mr. D. ? " " Yes, sir." " All right ; let me 
see that last trick. Ah, you played the 8." Such 
a bungler might save time by asking at first, " Do 
you want me to play trumps, Mr. D. ? " 



The constant allusion to and dependence upon 
" honors " in all the advice for play by writers upon 
Short Whist prevents adaptation of their regula- 
tions to our mode. Provided certain "honors" 
have been played or are held, they advise a certain 
course, if not, a different one. " Holding as I did 



Whist Practice. 119 

the k. and kn., and being at the point of three, it 
became important that I should know at once if 
my partner had the qu. If so, we were out, and 
if not we must play." This is picture-luck, not 
whist. 

The Short Whist men say that if honors had 
been cut in two, their game would have been per- 
fect; but they admit that the advantage of skill 
would have been so great as to limit considerably 
the number of players. The wonder is that they 
do not call the honors at once and save all trouble, 
as thus : " Have you a picture, partner ? " " Yes, 
I have the kn." "All right; I have k. and qu. 
Halve the stakes, call in the bets." This is a kind 
of partnership poker, not whist. 



Columns of English newspapers have been ap- 
propriated to the argument, pro and con, as to the 
punishment for the showing a hand by a player. 
Says the " Field :" "A player may expose his en- 
tire hand so that all the others can see it without 
a card penalty." And this he can do with wilful 
intent and not be fined, while if he should throw 
two cards at once upon the table his opponents 
howl for satisfaction. It is not very strange that 



120 American Whist. 

such opinions are laughed at. Of course, when a 
man shows his hand he exposes it, and we should 
fine him a point for every card that he improperly 
or accidentally shows. A man would not be played 
with here, who should repeat the intentional show- 
ing. If the London clubs would dismiss a player 
who so purposely offended propriety, the rule might 
stand ; but they are said to tolerate such conduct 
on the part of men who " define well the interest " 
that they take in the game. 



The difference in sentiment between American 
and Short Whist is specially to be considered. 
Drayson says : 

" It rarely happens that many rubbers of whist are 
played, especially by inexperienced players, without a 
question or dispute arising as regards the penalty which 
may or can be claimed for certain offences/' 

This comment may be supplemented by the 
assertion of a good player of Short Whist: 

"It never happens but that in an evening's play, 
and often at intervals in the day-play, that I have 
seen quarrels — for they can be called by no other 
name — of such nature as to embitter the antagonists, 
at least for the time, occur as a matter of course." 



Whist Practice. 1 2 1 

, The tantalizing talk of the winner of the bets or 
the gainer of a verdict in the matter of a disputed 
rule or part of a rule as quoted in the " Cavendish 
Essays/' is indicative of the spirit that animates the 
player. It is said that as the parties who play 
Short Whist in this country do not, as a general 
thing, play for money, there is freedom from this 
unhappy disposition. But whenever luck rather 
than skill is an element of a game, there is disap- 
pointment and discomfort. A slight indoctrina- 
tion of the English spirit goes with the hazard and 
prejudice of the game. An American advocate of 
it argues for 

" The keeping up of the cross ruff as long as possible, 
as it is an effective method of making tricks and always 
aggravating to the adversaries. ,, 

Now, in our fine, long game we have no quarrels. 
I have sat at many a table and not a cross word 
spoken between the hands. How can it be other- 
wise? American Whist is an intellectual game, 
and the players can and do " use philosophy " in 
the treatment of their own or of their antagonists' 
mishaps. 



We require a long game at cards, and American 
Whist is that game. There are a great number of 



122 A merican Whist. 

short ones tliat will answer for gambling purposes 
to the content of any and every body. Some one 
game should be for enjoyment gained by brain 
work. There is an honest argument in behalf of 
the general introduction of an honest amusement 
into our best clubs, at our literary rooms, and into 
our much-loved homes, 



We were once told that the " ten-point game " 
was played nightly by certain parties, and invited 
to attend the session if we would see whist prop- 
erly played. Of course, as a spectator we saw but 
one hand of any game. At one time, when the 
score stood A. and B. 1, C. and D. 9, D. turned the 
qu. of clubs and A. took up this hand, viz. : — 



Kn., 10, 9, 8, 6, 5 


hearts. 


Ace, K, 4 


spades. 


10 


diamonds, 


K,Kn., 7 


clubs. 



A. played the 10 of diamonds, as he afterward 
said, that he might trump them, for he had so 
many hearts that were good for nothing that he 
felt sure his partner could have none, and while 
he, A., was trumping diamonds, B. could trump 



Whist Practice. 123 

hearts, adding, if there was " any way to make any- 
thing out of such cards that was the way to do it." 
His partner held ace and k, of hearts, qu. 7, 5, 2 
of spades, ace, 9, 5, 3 of clubs, and three small dia- 
monds. A. and B. made three by card and " two 
by honors," saving the game, as B. said, who pro- 
tested that they could have done no more and that 
they had not lost a trick. A. being very emphatic 
in his assertion that nobody ever could do anything 
with a hand of so many poor cards as he held and 
only three trumps, we ventured to tell him that 
his hearts were as good as trumps, and asked if he 
would allow the hands to be played over. All 
were agreed, and A.'s and B.'s cards were properly 
played, making, of course, every trick and winning 
the £[ame. 



"It is the duty of a player to make the game as 
easy to his partner as he can. The play often depends 
upon the sort of partner. For example : You lead 
the 10 from k., qu., kn., 10. Your 10 forces the ace 
from fourth hand; you obtain the lead again. The 
proper lead is now the queen, as your partner knows 
you have k., kn., whereas he is uncertain about the 
queen. But, with an indifferent partner, the better 
lead is the king, as he may not have drawn the correct 
inference from the first lead, and, not knowing the 



1 24 American Whist. 

queen is the best, he may trump it." — [ " Cavendish," 
p. 117.] 

It is the duty of a player to play correctly, and 
the duty of a partner to understand such play. 
Holding k., qu., kn., 10, the proper lead is the 
king. That forces the ace, and your partner knows 
you have the qu. When you have the lead again, 
the play is the knave. No gain is made by the 
lead of a low card of a sequence, while much harm 
may come from it. If you lead the 10, the lowest 
of four, you deceive your partner, for the 10 may 
be the head of a sequence, or k., kn., and others* 
may be held, or it may be the best of three. It 
has been said that ace might not be played on 10 
by second player, and so you may have another 
lead. He who would not play ace upon 10, might 
not upon k., but wait for qu. The argument is 
of no avail. 



Your partner plays k. spades, which takes ; you 
have not the ace. He then plays ace of clubs, 
trumps, the 4 turned on his right. He then plays 
9 of diamonds. Name five cards that you know he 
now holds. 



Your right-hand opponent (D.) played kn. of 
hearts (9 of diamonds turned by B.). You played 



Whist Practice. 125 

the 7, your only heart. C. played 8. B. took with 
ace, and led qu. of spades, which was taken by 
D.'s k., and on the trick C. discarded the k. of 
hearts. What is your inference as to the situation 
of the rest of the hearts ? 



Your partner has turned qu. When you lead a 
small trump to him, he takes with kn. and re- 
turns the three. How many trumps, at least, has 
he ? Suppose he takes with qu., and returns kn., 
how many trumps, at most, has he ? Suppose he 
takes with ace, and returns k., how many has he ? 
Suppose he takes with k., and returns qu., how 
many ? If he takes with qu., and returns k., how 
many? 



Select the cards. Give your opponents the four 
highest cards in every suit. Let the trump be 
turned upon your right. Lead and make five by 
card. 



Spades trumps. Kn. turned at your left. Your 
partner leads k. diamonds, of which you have not 
the ace. It takes all small cards. He now leads 



126 American Whist. 

ace of trumps. You have four small ones. What 
is your inference when he plays the ace ? 



You have kn. and 9 of clubs, trumps. You 
know that the 10 and 8 are on your right, C. and 
B. having renounced. You also have ace and 4 
of hearts. Only the 3 of hearts has been thrown, 
discarded by D. C. leads kn. of hearts. B. takes 
with qu. What is your play for all the tricks ? 



Qu. c. turned on your right. On ace, qu. of 
diamonds, played by you, B. has called. You hold 
k. kn. 4, 3 c. What is your play ? 



10 spades turned by D. You have 5, 4, 3, 2 
spades, 6, 5, 4, 3 hearts, kn. 10, 9 clubs, and ace, 
k. diamonds. What will you lead ? 



A man may play whist for several weeks. He will 
then find it necessary for him to apply his knowledge 
for three or four years before he discovers what a diffi- 
cult game it is. — Deschapelles. 



Whist Practice. 127 

In the library or drawing-room a table is made, 
and A. says, as he looks over his thirteen cards, 
" I declare I don't know what to play ; " and B. 
responds, "You would if you had my hand; it's 
awful;" and C. says, "Well, play something; I 
can follow suit to anything;" and D. groans, 
" Yes, give us something. I want to get through 
with this hand." Not one of the party happens to 
hold three aces, three kings, three queens, and four 
trumps, and is not satisfied. They do not think 
that among them is distributed all the cards there 
are, and that it is by the best use of such as each 
may chance to hold, the great game is played. 



Lord Henry, as " Cavendish " delights to call 
Bentinck, possessed, as per his biographer, two 
excellent traits : He was accurate in observance of 
the fall of the cards, and he made no distinction as 
to his manner of play with a partner good or bad. 
Of course neither " Cavendish " nor any of the 
Euglish writers or players consider this latter qual- 
ification a recommendation, for there are shillings 
or pounds to be lost or won, and as we are not to 
suppose that the opponents would let slip any 
opportunity for advantage by managing their game 



128 American Whist. 

other than shrewdly, the only plan for Lord Henry 
to adopt, was to violate propriety in any manner in 
order to deceive them. With us, all three players 
would be at their best, and the poor player would, 
by their treatment of the game, be inclined to 
study it, as he, upon the playing of every hand, 
would be made sensible of his errors. But in 
other respects Lord Henry was an uncomfortable 
companion. His pretence that a player who had 
once led from a plain suit could not afterward, in 
the progress of the same hand, call for trumps, is 
absurd. " Cavendish " says it was of no use arguing 
with him, so he let the matter drop. Another man 
in Lord Henry's place, after " Cavendish " had lost 
three or four tricks by his silly play, would have 
received a reprimand not readily to be forgotten. 



People in general entertain strange notions con- 
cerning whist. Many say, "Oh, I don't know 
much about the game. I only play for amuse- 
ment. You must not expect me to know about it. 
I have n't the time." As well to say, " Oh, I don't 
know much about the meaning of w r ords. I only 
read for amusement, Ivanhoe or Middlemar^ 
You must not expect me to understand them. I 
have n't the time." 



Whist Practice. 129 

If a man who did not know how properly to 
sound a note, was asked to sing Schubert's " Wan- 
derer," would he accept the invitation ? If he did 
accept, would his singing be a success ? But he 
daringly takes up thirteen cards, each one of which 
in the great game that he essays, 

1 ' Though it have no tongue, will speak 
"With most miraculous organ," 

and does not understand which is the proper one 
to play. Consider the situation. . 



A gentleman writes : u It has been said that no 
man can appreciate the beauty of whist but the 
first-class whist-player. I really liked the game, 
as I once understood it, and had plenty of fun in 
taking tricks with the big cards, which somehow I 
almost always had the good fortune to hold. I 
had among my friends quite a reputation as a 
player, and we used to sit and do away with the 
aces and kings, and queens too, when these latter 
would run without being trumped, but always ex- 
claiming at our ill luck when such catastrophe 
happened. One rainy day, last winter, two gentle- 
men were introduced to me at the hotel, and I pro- 
posed, as an after-dinner amusement, a game of 

9 



130 American Whist. 

whist, naming my soon-to-be-obtained partner, and 
jocosely telling them we would show them a little 
about the game. Our aces and kings, very seldom 
our queens, and never any other cards that I 
can remember, took a few tricks, but 7's and 
5's, and even 2's, called at the last of nearly every 
hand for what we had, and thought of value. I 
was never so bewildered about anything in my life, 
and so vexed that I would not ask for an explana- 
tion. But my partner did, and we were told of long 
suits, management of trumps, and the value of the 
eleventh card. I remember to have said, ' Why, 
then, it seems my partner and I have n't been play- 
ing whist at all/ to which I received reply, ' No, 
sir; you have been playing pictures.' .... I 
wish you to send me such books as I can read to 
advantage, for I hope in time to be of those who 
' can appreciate the beauty of the game.' " 



The good player, seated with an ordinary player 
as partner; is constantly misunderstood. When 
the first four cards have fallen, the good player 
has drawn his inference concerning the suit. 
When the next four have fallen he almost knows 
where are the other five. By and by, it may be, 
he leads one of these. A good partner would 



Whist Practice. 131 

know why, and also understand location. But the 
mere appraiser of so-called royalty w r ill usually 
frustrate his intent. At such times the odd card, 
all arranged for, is put beyond his hope ; and, at 
the close of the hand, his partner, innocent of 
having defeated a well-laid plan, will say, " I don't 
see how we could have played any better." 



While the opportunity of playing the grand coup 
occurs to an individual player but once in a thou- 
sand or more rubbers, the chance of throwing the 
lead, parting with the proper card, giving advantage 
to partner, or forcing a lead of the adversary occurs 
in almost every hand. A. had the 9 and 5 of 
diamonds (trumps). The trumps were all out but 
four, and A. knew that C. had the 7 and 4. He 
also knew that C. held the 10 of clubs, of which 
he had the twelfth card, the 8. The score was 
6 to 6. Each party had five tricks in this hand 
A careless player would have thrown the highest 
trump, and lost the game. A., throwing the lead, 
and forcing the play, makes the odd trick. 



In a book kept for the purpose of scoring, a 
player may have his record of points, games, and 



132 



American Whist. 



rubbers, together with the name of place where 
played, date, and names of partners and opponents. 
A proper, simple mode of scoring, much in use, is 
as follows : — 

B S Club , Jan. — , 18—. 



1 2 3 4 5 6t 1 2 3 4* P. G. R. 



E. & F. 
G. &H 



II 


II 


1 


1 


1+U 


lllll 
1 


mi 


i 



110 
14 2 1 



Partners change, and the next score is 



1 2 3 4 5t 1 

E. & H. 1 1 || ||il( 

F. & G. | HI 



3 4f 1 2 3 4 5* P. G. R. 

II I 112 1 

II III Il|l9 2 1 



A t represents the numbered hand in which a game is won, and a * 
stands for a rubber. 



Ordinary players are desirous to go on with play, 
and jump conclusions. "Don't stop now to ex- 
plain that ; we have 'nt time ; go on with the deal." 
That man will never make a whist-player. He is 
like the boy who, when he meets a word that he 
cannot pronounce, or does not understand, skips it. 
Whenever he comes to a hard place he will play 
" something," and trust to luck. Did he but know 
that the beauty and worth of the game lies in 
knowing just what to do at those trial times ! but 
he will never know it. 



Whist Practice. 133 

Cases are exceptional where leads from short 
suits, especially of two cards or a singleton, can be 
proper. But such cases do occur and it is keen 
judgment that readily appreciates the situation and 
dares to throw the lead despite the rule. Grand 
coups deserve no more credit than grand leads. A 
brave player in certain cases takes the responsibil- 
ity of the game from the start, and if he has a good 
partner to quickly read his meaning and to assist 
him at any sacrifice, he will w T in by a series of bril- 
liant play that would electrify a mere follower of 
book-rule. 



Play over illustrated games and note all the ex- 
planations for their conduct. 

Study all written maxims with the cards placed be- 
fore you in the situations mentioned. — Mathews. 

You will not hold the same hands at the table 
in regular play, but you will meet with situations 
similar. 

When a player has committed a series of puerile 
mistakes during a rubber, every one of which is re- 
ferred to as bad play in whist books, and then 
announces with an air of triumph that he never read 
a book on whist in his life, it is rather disappointing 
for his partner to inform him that his style of play 
indicates the fact. — DraYSON. 



134 American Whist. 

In the overplay of the hand see if you can im- 
prove upon the play of partner or opponent for 
reasons that either might have had, governed by 
the knowledge of the play as it progressed. 



It is not well to lead trumps from an utterly 
doubtful suit of trumps. For instance, holding k., 
kn., 7, 4, or qu., 10, 6, 3, better lead a plain suit, 
for you may lose every trick. In this matter of 
trump-playing, regard must be had to the fact that 
in Short Whist there is always place for the ascer- 
tainment of honors ; but you are obliged to make 
points. And the number of points that you have 
to gain gives freedom for finesse. 



The call from your partner to you or by you to 
him for trumps is by the play of an unnecessarily 
high card upon a plain suit led and after, a lower 
card, or by the discard of a card higher than that 
afterward discarded. The echo is made by the 
same mode of play. If you have five trumps and 
not ace, k., at the head you lead the penultimate 
as in plain suits. If your partner has four trumps 
he makes it manifest, unless he takes the trick, by 



Whist Practice. 135 

the throwing of a small one, and after, one smaller. 
If he takes the trick and then plays a very low- 
trump you may infer that he had four originally 
or that he has no more. The proper leads of trumps 
have been given. Should you lead a low trump 
through k. or qu., turned on your left, and your 
partner takes with kn. or 10, having but one more, 
he may not return the lead. You then have it at 
option upon obtaining the lead in a plain suit, of 
playing again either through the turned trump or 
of attempting to take it. 



"If your partner leads a certain card you are 
justified in finessing deeply, or if he leads from 
desperation." How are you to know that he leads 
from " desperation " ? And what has desperation 
to do with whist ? The cards are to be played as 
well as the player knows how to play them, at any 
and all stages of the game. You cannot deal a 
hand to a good player which he will not consist- 
ently play from first to last. 



No man takes up twice the same hand, perhaps 
never takes two hands that have close resemblance 
to each other, save only in the numbers of the cards 



136 American Whist. 

that form the respective suits. Leads may be or- 
dained for him, but by and by, as the hand is being 
played, there comes a choice between what is most 
proper to be thrown. The good player is conspic- 
uous here, and his action must be read and under- 
stood by his partner. What made Deschapelles 
" the finest whist-player beyond any comparison the 
world has ever seen " ? The doing of those strange 
deeds of finesse, to the depths of which no book 
logic can reach. His was a brilliant, daring game. 
As the position of the cards developed, he planned 
for their fall. The platitude of an ordered game was 
not for him. Let us have an illustration. Lecon., 
p. 22: "Seven rounds w^ere played. It was his 
lead, and he held tierce to a king in clubs, the 7 of 
spades, the queen of diamonds, and the last trump, 
a small heart. He must have all the tricks. The 
king of diamonds was with his adversary. The 
king and queen of spades had both been played 
and made by his left-hand opponent. The ten 
and another diamond were with his partner. Four 
spades were out, but not any sure intimation of 
their whereabout. Clubs had been played but 
once, and the ten had taken the trick. The book- 
player, if indeed in his monotonous following out 
of suits he could have arrived at such a crisis, 
would play the knave of clubs, and if his partner 



Whist Practice. 137 

played properly lie would have won the game. 
But Deschapelles threw the trump. On it his 
partner, who saw that the club sequence was the 
cause, played the ace of clubs, and Deschapelles 
read the reserved tenace in his hand. He led the 
spade, which was taken, and the ace returned by 
his partner. Upon that he threw the queen of 
diamonds, and to the four of clubs next led he 
played the knave, and then the king and queen." 

It is the manner of play to which we call atten- 
tion. Men must remember and must plan, who 
play with such as Deschapelles. The details of 
whist are not microscopic but kaleidoscopic, and 
the illimitable changes must be noted as they go. 
A sketch of one of Deschapelles' beginnings fol- 
lows. He held : — 

Ace, king, 4, 3, diamonds. 
King, queen, 8, 6, clubs. 
Ace, 7, 4, 3, 2, spades. 

10 of hearts turned to his right. 

He led the king of diamonds, which took ; then 
the king of clubs, which took ; then ace of spades 
on which his partner threw the king, and Descha- 
pelles at once followed with the 3. Where is Mr. 
Pole with his " theory " ? What shall " Cavendish" 
and "J. C." say to this ? "Avoid changing suits.' 1 



138 A merican Whist. 

" Never force your partner if weak in trumps," and 
he had not one. At our imitative English Short 
Whist Clubs the ace of spades would have been 
loyally played at first, then, frightened by the fall of 
the king, the leader would have thrown the king of 
clubs or king of diamonds, that suit to have been 
kept uninterrupted so long as he had to lead it. 
B. (Deschapelles' partner), holding queen, knave, 
and ten of spades, took with the 10 and led a trump. 
Three points were required and made, the last trick 
taken by the queen of clubs. There is more of life 
and interest in such a game than in an hundred 
that plod on with three cards in succession of a suit 
until it is exhausted, and the thirteenth held to 
come in after the trumps are out. 



It would seem by the tenor of the foreign books 
that in many assemblages, a man who knows lit- 
tle or nothing of the play may "cut in" with 
good players and insist upon being one of four. It 
would also seem that no objection is made, or per- 
haps can be made, to his course. Such an one, we* 
should think, must be ready to brave unhappiness, 
if we are to believe the stories of the manner of 
reception with which the individual meets. We 
are led to think that, as his money is as good as 



Whist Practice. 139 

any one's, he is let in to take the chances of losing 
it, and that in order to keep it on the one side, or 
to get it on the other, all sorts of devices and tricks 
with the cards are justifiable. 

" When, however, the partner is "unobservant, the 
rules should be systematically violated, as one of the 
best means of mystifying the adversaries." 

Standard Whist permits no such foolery with 
principle. The game that tolerates such departure 
from rectitude is not for us to play. 



To the practice of " calling,'' objection has been 
made because it is said to be a signal so definite. 
It is no more so than many others. Whist is cards 
at conversation : they speak ; not the players, except 
through them. When an ace is thrown away, it 
says : " The king and command remain." When a 
knave is thrown second, it says : " The queen wants 
the next trick, if you take me." The call and the 
echo are proper plays, informatory to all, to be 
obeyed by one party and resisted by the other. 
The call is easily learned, and is more common in 
practice than many whist signals. It is more 
abused than many. Some parties in its use can 
not avoid, as it would seem, accompanying the 



1 40 A merican Whist. 

making it with an earnestness not attendant upon 
any other play. All this is wrong. The partner 
sees, and knows, and remembers what is played 
quietly ; the better the partner, the less necessity 
for affronting his common sense. The call is made 
not only at the beginning of the play of the hand 
by the fall of an unnecessarily high card among 
the lower ones, and then a lower, but it may be 
made at any time during the hand, and by cards 
of any denomination. The qu. and then the kn. 
upon a lead, is a call, as well as the 3 and then 
the 2 ; and the discard is equally effective. A 5 
thrown away, and then a 4, is a definite call or 
echo. You signal in one suit for the play of 
another. Certainly, for if it was that suit which 
you wanted, you are playing it now, and may 
throw what card you please. You ask for trumps, 
having many and wanting advantage. Your ad- 
versaries are not deceived. It is a signal that 
requires two rounds to complete. You read other 
signs in single plays. If you play a k., and change 
the suit, the inference is you have ace and kn. If 
you, second hand, have a knave and 5, you throw 
the kn., hoping that the leader will change his suit 
from k. led. The playing of a high card in such 
manner, and afterward the lower card, gave rise to 
the general admission of the trump-call tactics.* 

* See Preface to Sixth Edition, M. 



Whist Practice. 141 

You should practice sorting your hand quickly so as 
to be ready for the lead, and to have formed some 
estimate of the value of your hand before the first card 
is led. By forming an estimate of your hand, I mean 
that you should note how many tricks you are almost 
certain to win, how many tricks you may possibly win, 
then having noted the score of your adversaries and 
your own score, you know whether you can save the 
game in your own hand. If you cannot do so, you 
must remember how many tricks you require from your 
partner to save the game between you. If you are cer- 
tain that you can save the game you may run some risk 
to win it, but you must be most cautious, as the state 
of the score alters the style of the play. — Dratson. 

Your partner's hand and your own are to be played 
in common, as near as may be, and if you have not 
strength to maintain independence, to ascertain 
how you can be of service to him is of the first 
importance. Let us take an example to ascertain 
what would be the value in the regard of a good 
player, of a hand easily condemned as worthless by 
those who must hold high cards in order to have 
their interest enlisted. The score was 6 to 6. D. 
dealt, and turned 9 of clubs. A.'s hand was 10, 8 
6, 5, 2, hearts ; 7, 4, 3, spades ; 4, 2, diamonds ; kn., 
10, 8, clubs. A. led properly the penultimate of 
hearts. B. took with qu., and led the 5 of cli 
D. played 7, A. 8, C. 2. A. led kn. clubs, C 



142 American Whist. 

B. k, D. 9. B. ace clubs, D. qu., A. 10, 0. re- 
nounced. B. led ace hearts, and his two trumps 
gave him the odd card. B. knew that A. led from 
his long suit, and dared finesse, but not return the 
ace. He also knew by A.'s play of 8, then kn., 
that A. had no higher than kn. in trumps, and that 
he held the 10. If A. had argued, "I have no 
cards that are worth anything, it matters not what 
I play," he would have found the diamonds on the 
one hand, and spades on the other. D. would have 
thrown his last heart on his partner's play of spades 
and trumped the heart led him for that purpose, 
making the odd trick and game, in place of losing 
both. 



A. and B., 6 ; C. and D., 5. Eight rounds have 
been played. C. and D. have six tricks. A. is to 
lead from 7 and 6 of spades, 10 of hearts, and 9 and 
4 diamonds, trumps, Now, as A. says, C. and D. 
have all the liick, and it can make no difference to 
him, A., which of all these cards he plays. There 
is a higher trump than his somewhere, and the 
sooner he gets rid of these small cards and has a 
new deal, in which he hopes for aces and kings, the 
better. Of course this game is lost with his little 
cards ; he can do nothing to prevent it. By the 
score, if he consulted it, he would see that he 



Wkist Practice. 143 

wants all these tricks to make the game, but he 
does not know that by his proper play he makes a 
coup far more complimentary to himself and his 
partner than was effected by the taking by high 
cards of his two earlier tricks. He leads the 4 of 
diamonds to call down the last trump ; then he 
can trump a club if it is led to him, and that may 
keep the others from going out ; and, as he says, is 
all there is in this hand. He is surprised to see 
his partner's 10 fall on the 4. His partner leads 
ace of spades, and then a club, that is trumped by 
A ; who then leads the other spade. The k. is 
played by C, who leads ace of hearts, and the 
game is won. 

Now, let us put the cards in master hands. A., 
knowing that B. played kn. second when led as C.'s 
best suit after clubs had run, plays the 7 of 
spades. B. finesses qu., and returns ace, taking k., 
then leads a club, which A. trumps, knowing, as he 
should know, that B. held the other trump, and no 
heart, A. leads the 10 of hearts ; B. trumps, and 
returns club, but not the best, which A. takes with 
last trump, and A and B. win every trick and the 
game. 



Be very careful about your second or third hand 
play, when long tenaces are over you at your left 



144 A merican Whist. 

Thus, holding qu., 10, 4, play 10 and draw k. If 
fourth player holds ace, k, and 8, and is obliged to 
lead, you make the qu. If you play the 4, you 
lose all the tricks, 



Look over good players ; but, though in liberal 
Clubs the liberty may be accorded you to see all, 
see hut one hand during a game. You cannot trace 
the action of a single player, if curiosity to know 
more of the condition of things than he does, in- 
duces you to ascertain the situation of other cards 
than he holds. The law that governs a proper table 
will not allow you to see but one hand, for the 
reason that bystanders, passing about behind the 
players, may confuse their game. Watch the one 
play, and try to understand the reason for it in 
detail. If you do not understand, ask the player, 
after the hand is played, to explain. There is no 
good player who will not gladly give explanation. 



The following specimen of fraudulent intention, 
" Cavendish" styles " a very clever thing." "A. once 
did another very clever thing. He became a mem- 
ber of a play Club where there was a by-law that if 
honors are scored in error the adversaries may take 



Whist Practice. 145 

them down and add them to their own score. As 
a new-comer he was courteously informed of the 
existence of this by-law. ' Excellent rule,' said 
A., ' capital rule/ and sat down to play. After a 
hand or two his score being three to love he lost 
two by cards and observed smiling to his partner, 
1 Lucky ! we just saved it/ The adversaries con- 
cluding from the remark 'just saved it 1 that they 
were four, marked four without further consider- 
ation. But as soon as the score w T as marked, A. 
innocently inquired, ' were you four by cards that 
time ? ' ' No, two by cards and two by honors.' 
1 Honors were divided/ said A. blandly, and so 
they w^ere. ' I think you have a very proper rule 
here that under these circumstances we score two. 
Partner, mark a double/ " A pleasant little cheat 
worthy of old Fagin. They call this playing whist 
in London. 



It was at a practice game, and all were privil 
to talk. A. took up five cards of a suit, four of a 
second suit, and four of a third. He had not a 
trump, and immediately played one of the five 
suit. " Why did you throw that card ? w a friend 
asked. " Because it is according to rule/' said A. 
"But you have an odd trick to gain." "Yes, I 

10 



146 American Whist. 

• • ' ■■ » 

know that, but I must take the risk as to how the 
cards lie." " Very well ; I always take my own 
hand into consideration," said the other. A. had 
led from a major tenace, made not a trick in the 
suit, and the opponents won the card. A. per- 
sisted that he had played correctly ; the rule said, 
" Lead from your longest suit," and he always did 
so, win or lose. His friend remarked, " It is an 
easy game to play." The issue of the hand by 
another lead was shown to be the gain of the 
trick, but A. insisted that it was better to lose by 
rule than to win by calculation. 



Be punctual to the instant in an appointment for 
whist. Eemember, if you are fifteen minutes late, 
it is not the loss of that time for which you must 
apologize, but for the loss of the forty-five minutes 
of the time of three other men. 



Whoever would like to talk but a little even, at 
a whist table, must recollect that whatever he 
would say can be reserved until after the hand is 
played, and that though one only speaks, three 
hear, and each of the three must be more or less 
disconcerted in his own plan of calculation. 



Whist Practice. 147 

As to the time within proper limits (unless such 
time has been set), for the breaking up of a party, 
courtesy gives to the losers of the largest number 
of rubbers, the right of decision. 



You cannot play whist hurriedly. You have 
too much work on hand. Haste makes waste. 
You must take time for thought of all that is 
being done. Play deliberately, endeavoring to use 
no more time over one situation than over another, 
for hesitation, at one time more than another, is 
unwarrantable. 

Hesitation exposes the hands, and directs the oppo- 
nents. — Howland. 



When trumps are out, or all that are in play are 
in your partner's hand or your own, it is known 
that the play of an unnecessarily high card, and 
then a lower one, does not mean a call for trumps, 
but it does mean that the party so playing has 
good cards in that suit. For instance, hearts 
trumps, and exhausted ; your partner plays k. of 
clubs, you 7. He follows with ace, you play 6 ; he 
knows you have the qtL 



148 American Whist. 

In shuffling, one of the best modes, usually 
called the whist-shuffle, is to throw a part of the 
cards from the right hand among the rest of the 
pack in the left. Care should be taken that none 
of their faces should be seen. Never stand a part 
of the pack upon the table and force the rest down 
into it ; by so doing you cut or turn the edges. 



In dealing, keep tire cards level in the hand 
from which you deal, and point them downward 
when thrown. 



Some so-called players, at Clubs where talking is 
allowed, ask, " What is trumps ? " Such men, as 
well as those who habitually play out of turn, re- 
voke, or expose cards, want to see the last trick, 
and to.know " Who dealt ? " should go home and 
study — the cards placed before them, and the 
books of direction within easy call. They should 
not belong to a Whist Club as players, any more 
than boys who cannot remember the multiplication 
table should serve as auditors in the settlement of 
arithmetical accounts. 



Whist Practice. 149 

"What should he done when you have a 'poor 
player' for a partner?" ask "Cavendish/ 1 Clay, 
Pole, Walker, and all the rest. " Play false 
cards, deceive yourself, deceive your adversaries,'' 
answer " Cavendish," Clay, Pole, Walker, and 
all the rest. In London do you call that play- 
ing whist ? Do you not think it would be more 
manly to play true cards, to preserve your honor, 
and not to do trickery ? Would it not be well to 
say to this poor partner, " We will teach you if you 
will study ; if you will not learn, you must not in- 
terfere with our game." 



Some of the objections that we make to Short 
Whist and its practice are as follows, viz. : — 

It is a short game and is played for money. 

Talking is allowed at the table. 

" Honors " are counted. 

It advises rules that assist a short game to its 
completion. 

It is largely indebted to chance rather than skill 
for results. 

A lucky hand may successfully oppose a hand 
well played. 

There is constant trouble and dissatisfaction 
about its laws. 



150 American Whist. 

Bystanders are referred to in settlement of diffi- 
culties. 

Some of the laws are rigorously enforced, as 
well as they can be understood, among good play- 
ers, but violated by common consent when a "poor 
player " sits down with the good players. 

When so-called good players purposely avoid or 
break a law, as the one concerning revoke, they are 
not only tolerated but excused in the repetition of 
the offence. 

Bystanders openly bet upon the game and with 
the players. 

From the facts of its speed in play, dependence 
upon luck, value in picture cards, and non-observ- 
ance of silence, it possesses, as does any other gam- 
bling game, especial qualifications which do not 
belong to American or Standard Whist. When 
used for gaming purposes it is popular, since it 
owns so many features upon which wagers can be 
laid, as well as upon the result of game or rubber 
quickly decided. When played in this country 
and at Clubs and elsewhere where gaming is not 
allowed, it has the merit, in common with many 
other games that are made to contribute to an 
evening's pleasure, of being conducted in accord- 
ance with a set of rules which approve its brevity 
and license for occasional remark; and with or- 



Whist Practice. 151 

dinary care and calculation it forms a pleasant 
amusement, harmless, and in many cases, unprof- 
itable. If played with the vigor that character- 
ized the French game an^ the shrewdness which 
some of the fine English players use, it is incom- 
parably the best of all the short games at cards. 
But it must always be borne in mind that it was 
Long Whist, which for more than a century mo- 
nopolized the attention of the best of the card-play- 
ers, and enlisted in its amplitude for calculation, the 
earnest attention of superior men. For gaming 
purposes alone it was taken from its high estate, and 
for gaming purposes alone, it holds its mimic court 
in Europe. In the olden form, each party had its 
opportunities in almost every game, to combat with 
the fortune which in the previous hands the oppo- 
nents had embraced, and the scale might at any 
time, by the result of a new deal, be turned against 
the partial winner. Hand after hand was frequent- 
ly played before the game was won. " One or two 
rubbers," says Charles Lamb, " might co-extend in 
duration with an evening.' , Now 

11 A pert player with his hundred bet " 

may at the very outset of a game throw down his 
hand and claim the stake. 

There have been improvements and inventions. 



152 A merican Whist. 

These apply to Long, better than to Short Whist, 
because it is the nature of whist to demand time 
for the settlement of its advantages. What we 
dislike in Short Whis^when it is ever so fairly 
offered is, that at the moment of its presentation of 
attractions for our mental delight, the merest chance 
may obliterate them all. That is not a game that 
is not played. 

Formerly all the " honors " must be held and all 
the tricks but one must be taken, if in one hand a 
game was won. With but three "honors" and all 
the tricks, there yet remained a chance for redemp- 
tion by the adversaries. In modern whist we put 
aside the " honors " and require that all the tricks 
must be obtained by one party, who in one hand 
shall win. This, as nearly as may be, equalizes the 
games in merit. It is a difficult matter at almost 
any time to make su.ch a game in one hand, and it 
should be so. 

I am tempted to quote from a letter from one of 
the best players in New York City. " What a de- 
light it is to play American Whist ! No noise, no 
talk, no contention ! Plain count and common 
sense. Why, I can think now while I am playing, 
and, I assure you, I have recently thought to some 
purpose. C. and D., and B. and myself played five 
rubbers Saturday afternoon. B. and I won four of 



Whist Practice. 153 

them, but it was the hardest work I have done 
with cards for many a day. What a memory C. 
lias ! I never knew anything like" it. At dinner 
after the play, C. said, ( you have beaten us hand- 
somely, and the game is certainly the finest that 
can be imagined. No more imitation whist for me, 
be assured.' I tell you this because C. has been 
playing at the U — Club occasionally. I think he 
will play with us hereafter." 

Since the announcement of this book a gentle- 
man writes from Providence: "I hope that you 
will not commend the learning of American Whist 
to people in general, for some people can not hold 
their tongues. Please don't let these get hold of 
vour book. American Whist is for solid satisfac- 
tion, enjoyment unalloyed with prattle, which at 
any other time than when I am playing whist, I 
am as foolish as anybody in loving to hear and take 
part in, but I want to hear a watch tick ten yards 
off when I am playing whist." 



Mr. Henry Jones of London ("Cavendish") is 
the inventor of plans, and the acknowledged author 
and authority for all that is best in English Whist 

Force of circumstances, as we believe, has led him 
to condone its gambling tendencies and to apolo- 



154 A merican Whist. 

gize for many of its errors. He is too great in 
play and possessed of too much good sense not to 
see and understand that the American game of 
whist is the grand game for him to play. He 
would use other games if money is at stake, and 
he would gladly know and play one game of skill. 
He is one of the best, if not the best of the players 
, in Europe, and of whist he says : — 

" A perfect game ought to excite such an amount of 
interest that it may be played for its own sake, without 
needing the stimulus of gambling. " 

And he makes this free confession: — 

"Early in this century the points of the game were 
altered from ten to five, and calling honors was abol- 
ished. It is doubtful whether this change was for the 
better. In the author's opinion Long Whist is a far 
finer game than Short Whist. Short Whist has, how- 
ever, taken such a hold that there is no chance of our 
reverting to the former game." 

There is but one reason given by themselves, why 
" Cavendish " and all great players in London must 
sacrifice their honest belief to the prevailing fash- 
ion. " The new game is found to be so lively, and 
money changes hands with such increased rapidity, 
tha,t all the members of the leading Clubs of the day 
continue to play it" 



Whist Practice. 155 



Underplay. 

Properly manipulated, underplay can be made 
serviceable. But probable success demands keen 
management. You hold ace, kn., 10, and a small 
card of a suit led by right-hand opponent. On his 
5 you play the iO, and it takes the trick. Now, if 
you are strong in trumps, you may play the small 
card. You must consider first that your adversary 
led from four at least. You had four, and there 
can be but five in the other two hands. But C. 
has not k. or qu. D. cannot have them both, and 
you are justified in underplay. If your partner 
has k. (for C. will not trump his partner's original 
lead if he has no more of the suit), you, by the 
aid of your trumps, are to make all the tricks in 
your adversaries' suit. If it should be that you 
lose your partners qu. to the k, the other tricks in 
the suit are yours. This is underplay from second 
hand. If the lead is made by C, and D. can play 
no higher than the 9, your lead of the small card 

, vlmost sure to be successful, for C. will not play 
k. second if he has it; it is his only high card, and 
he will play an 8 rather, and trust that ace will 
fall in that round. The closest figuring with refer- 
ence to position will be requisite for the practice 



156 A merican Whist. 

of underplay. Every gain in it is by a coup, and 
not by common play. It is well sometimes to 
delay the lead of the suit until you have played a 
winning card. Then the small card makes for you 
a proper lead. " J. C." gives an example that may 
be called an underplay finesse. " You hold the k, 
with two or more small cards, and are fourth to 
play. C. has led a small card ; Dt has taken with 
ace, and returns the lead. You play a small card, 
and trust to your partner to take the trick. This 
he is very likely to do, unless original leader hold 
both qu. and kn., for, believing the k. to be behind 
him, he may finesse a 10 or 9 rather than play his 
qu. to what appears certain destruction." 

False Caiuds. 

We do not admit .that there is a valid excuse for 
the play of false cards. If you hold qu., kn., and 
a small card of a suit, of which your right-hand 
opponent leads the 10, and you argue that qu. 
and kn. in your hand are equal cards, and play the 
qu., you have deceived your partner, whom you 
lead to suppose that you have but one card 
beside qu. played, or that you have k. and another. 
You have certainly told him that you have not the 
kn. The English writers have uniformly con- 



Whist Practice. 157 

demned the practice of false card play, only excus- 
ing it when done to mystify an opponent, the part- 
ner not being well enough informed in the game to 
be deceived by the action. We do not understand 
in what manner the English players expect to 
teach their " poor partners " the correct game while 
they all the while practice upon their credulity. 
Our plan is not to play false cards, and not to 
deceive anybody. The more honestly the game is 
played by all, the more satisfaction is understood by 
all. A victory is shorn of its laurels unless it is 
fairly won. 

The Eleventh, 

So called because it is the best of three remaining 
of the suit, is sometimes a power, if you know that 
the other two are divided between the opponents. 
You give your partner opportunity for discard, and 
so learn what to lead him, or what to play to 
throw the lead. If the two are with left-hand 
opponent, you may force a trump from the right, 
who must lead to your partner's tenace. If the 
two are on the right, you compel a trump from the 
left, and your partner may discard or over-trump, as 
suits his hand. In case he discards, you have the 
last play on the next lead ; and if instead he takes 
the trick, he does so for the advantage of the lead. 



158 A merican Whist. 



The Twelfth. 

This is not necessarily the best of two remaining 
of a suit. When it is the best, and you know D. 
has the smaller, the twelfth will of course win, 
unless trumped by C. But you run a risk in play- 
ing this card, of a discard from C, that may very 
much influence your next lead. For this reason 
much care must be taken in the management of 
the twelfth. Drayson gives a fitting example. 
You hold ace, qu., and two small spades, and the 
twelfth heart. C. has two small spades, ace, k., 
and 2 of clubs. B. has three spades, qu., and small 
club. D. four spades and thirteenth heart. Clubs 
trumps. B. leads small spade, you win with qu. 
You lead twelfth heart. C. throws spade. You 
then play ace spades, which C. wins with small 
club, and makes k. and ace ; three tricks to your 
two. Now, playing carefully, you reverse this, 
winning three to C.'s two. Play ace of spades, 
then twelfth heart, and it or your partner's qu. 
must make. Winning cards should be played 
before the twelfth card, if there is possibility of 
discard to your detriment. When the twelfth is 
the lower of the two, and the thirteenth to your 
left, the object of playing it is to throw the lead or 
make your partner play a high trump. He has 



Whist Practice. 159 

kept the run of the cards, and will know if you 
have a tenace. Holding the twelfth, while B. has 
thirteenth, is, of course, an argument for having all 
trumps out before playing it. 

The Thirteenth. 

The marked intention of the play of the thir- 
teenth is to draw from your partner his best trump. 
He will know if this is your purpose, if there are 
several high trumps in, and will see that you do 
not want your best trump to fall with his. The 
thirteenth is played also to throw the lead for 
benefit of leader or partner. The partner must 
judge of the intent, and having seen what was 
played of his partner's best suit, may, if C. trumps, 
discard and make A.'s tenace ; or, having one of his 
own, if C. does not trump, let D. take and lead. 
The thirteenth is not the best card to play, if 
trumps are against you, for you give the adversa- 
ries their lead. Nor is it best, if you have suit of 
whicli your partner holds best card, unless you 
know that suit must be led him by adversary. 
The twelfth and thirteenth cards, therefore, are 
important to play, or withhold, according to cir- 
cumstances, and good players endeavor to make 
them of service. 



1 60 A merican Whist. 



Finesse. 

A chapter on finesse can be addressed only to 
experienced players, since it deals only with the 
highest order of play. Finesse belongs not alone 
to the third-hand player, but to the second and 
fourth as well. It is because of the overlooking 
of opportunity for fine play that many a hand in 
whist degenerates into routine. The significance 
of finesse is expressed when two good players, as 
partners, manage peculiar situations. The finesse 
proper and the finesse speculative are nearer alike 
than are any other two forms of this strategy. A. 
leads 5 of spades, B., having ace and qu., plays qu. 
This is finesse proper. A. leads 10 of diamonds, 
and B., holding ace and qu., passes. This is finesse 
speculative. These two forms the ordinary player 
understands as readily as he reads the trump signal 
or the lead of k, then ace. The severer orders of 
finesse practiced by the good players are : First, the 
finesse obligatory. A. holds good diamonds, trumps, 
and k, 9, 6, 3 of clubs, and leads the 3. B. takes 
with qu. and returns the 8. A. knows it is B.'s 
best card, and that the ace and kn. or 10, if D. 
plays a low one, are on his left (if D. renounces, 
they are all with C), but he must pass the 8, or 
not have a trick in the suit, or the card of re- 



Whist Practice. 161 

entry. Second, the returned finesse, on the lead 
of the left-hand adversary that may continue to 
the peril of several tricks, and, under some cir- 
cumstances, on the lead of either adversary, when 
it may be assisted by underplay. A. passes D.'s 
10 led, and, by-and-by, leads, through C.'s minor 
tenace, the same suit, to be taken by B., and, 
whether C. afterward leads back to D., or B. leads 
through D., the return, unless against certainty, 
gains the trick and the lead. Third, the finesse 
on the partner, to result in the command of a 
suit, or in the attempt to make a trick, or in the 
establishment of a suit in which he has strength. 
Fourth, the finesse by trial. If D. leads 5, and 
A. plays 9, and C. ace, when D. next leads 7, A. 
can safely play 10, retaining the qu. or k. 

Your partner having made a successful finesse 
in a suit of which he holds high cards, will 
not return that suit, thus : A. has led 8, C. has 
played 6, B. takes with kn., and retains ace and 
qu. Of course the k. is not with D., and if B. has 
good trumps, he is to make two more tricks in 
the plain suit. 

Finesse is often deep to save a game, and espe- 
cially in trumps near the close of the hand. If 
trumps are not played until late, the result of their 
proper use in the hands of good players is soine- 

ii 



1 6 2 A merican Whist. 

times startling. An ordinary player, hurrying the 
play, will disconcert schemes which he does not 
know how to plan or to second. 

The following up of the advantage of the finesse 
made by B. is incumbent upon A. If B. takes a 
trick in trumps third hand with the 10, holding 
ace, kn., he should not lead the trump in return, 
but a card of a suit for A. to take, who should 
again lead trumps. Finesse is also instrumental 
in gaining two tricks by the relinquishment of 
one; and it is made effective when with several 
minor cards in play, and the situation of one or 
two is doubtful, third player, holding, it may be, 
qu., 10, 7, plays the 7 on the lead of the 2. 

The knowledge of a previous discard oftentimes 
directs successful finesse. Second or fourth hand, 
holding good trumps and good cards in a suit led, 
may make a large score, if he understands the 
return finesse, while a player bent only on taking 
each trick as it seems possible, would make a loss. 

There is no part of whist so inexplainable as 
the varieties of finesse to the ordinary player, who, 
carrying but the lesser considerations of the hand 
in memory, will innocently interfere with the 
action of a finished player, and never understand 
in what manner superior skill would have made 
the cards which he holds of great service. 



Whist Practice. 163 

It is not essential that, alter the finesse obliga- 
tory has drawn the largest card from fourth hand, 
third hand should hasten the getting out of trumps ; 
his partner will take in the situation, and is as- 
sisted in his count of the hand. 

Finesse may be made by the lead or by any 
other play, and at any stage of the hand.* The 
cards are conversational, and, by the will of expe- 
rienced players, they are made to speak a various 
language. There are occasions upon which it is 
no more a matter of propriety that the first card 
led should designate four or five of the suit in 
hand, than that a man, who would hold common 
converse, should first cry out in his loudest key. 
Certain set leads are easily learned, and m ust be 
learned and appropriated by all ordinary, and at 
times by all good players, but these are made upon 
proviso. If certain named cards are held, they 
may be thrown, according to written regulation. 
But when combinations that cannot be anticipated 
are held, and the score is to be considered, the rule 
of lead or follow is of the brain of the player. And 
the interpretation of it is of the brain of the part- 
ner. " J. C." has said that the worst fault of which 
he knew in a whist-player was the playing for his 
own hand alone. But he said thai a dozen years 

\ and with all the sad detail of a freshly con- 

* See Preface to Sixth Edition, N. 



164 American Whist. 

cocted code of curiosities, called laws, staring him 
in the face. Certain signs and significations must 
he given, and given early, in the new short game 
that was to be ruled into life. Of a much braver 
nature was he, who, having invented the call, re- 
gretted such manifestation of his ingenuity, since 
its practice gave less scope to his own powers of 
calculation. 

The lead may be a finesse at a nice point of the 
game, A. has 9, 7, 5, 4, spades • the 8, 6, and 3 
are in play, their location indefinite, save that B. 
has led 10, and qu., k., and ace had fallen. The 
kn. had been thrown away, perhaps the beginning 
of a call, by C, as he afterward led trumps, but 
probably his only spade, and the 2 had been played 
by D. on trumps led. It is known that C. and D. 
have all the best clubs, and that B. has low clubs. 
Diamonds, trumps, are exhausted. It is A.'s lead, 
and he wants all the tricks. He places the 8 and 
another spade in his partner's hand. There is no 
alternative ; he must lead the 7. If 0. renounces, 
and B., holding 8 and 3, or 8 and 6, made the error 
of throwing the lowest on A.'s 9, should he lead 
that card, A. and B. can have but one more trick. 
A. must insure the lead, whether B. plays the 3 
or 6, or takes with the 8, and returns the 3 or 6. 
The finesse is against the possible 8 in D.'s hand 



Whist Practice. 165 

The fine play allowable in finesse by the latitude 
of American Whist is all unknown to the player 
of a diminutive game, who must quickly count 
tricks and stand in fear of " honors." Still, it is 
evident that the advantage to be derived by ingen- 
ious plans is understood by scientific players only. 
Constantly the occasions offer for the exercise of 
calculation, and as constantly would the well-ar- 
ranged schemes be frustrated by an unlearned 
partner. That is why American* Whist must be 
studied to the gaining of information beyond what 
any other game can demand. To a fine player of 
finesse the language of the cards thrown by his 
equally good partner is in disguise to an adversary, 
but capable of interpretation by himself, thus : — 

A., B. 6. C, D. 3. K. c. turned by D. C. 
holds ace, qu., 10, 8, 4 h., ace and three small 
clubs, ace, k. s., and two small diamonds. A. leads 
2 of hearts. C. infers that A. has three trumps, 
even suits, k. or kn. h., and two others, and sees that 
if D. can make one trick beside the k. a, he may 
win the game. C. plays 8 of hearts, reserving 
double tenace. A quick whist would play qu., but 
if the k. and another are with B., and kn. and two 
others with A., both k. and kn. will make. C. 
knows that k., kn., and 9 are not in A's hand, and 
that A. led from four. If B. takes the 8, and re- 



1 6 6 A merican Whist. 

turns the suit, 0. must have command. B. takes 
with k, and plays spade. C. takes with k., and 
leads low club. D. takes with qu., and, holding k. 
and 4, instead of returning trump, remembering 
the fall of the cards, sees A's probable finesse for 
the game, and leads 9 of hearts. C. takes with 10, 
finessing against possible kn. in B.'s hand, leads 
another club, and 0. and D. win ten tricks and the 
game. 

Third and fourth hand finesse is sometimes by 

*one player, in a single hand, finely played. Score, 

6 to 6. C. turns ace of clubs. A. holds ace, qu., 

9, 7, 6, 2, hearts, k., qu., 5, 3, clubs, 8, 7, 5, diamonds. 
B. leads 10 hearts. This must be from k, kn., or 
from three cards. D. plays 5, A. throws 6, and C. 
takes with k. C, with major tenace in spades, and 
suspecting call of D., leads 4 clubs, holding ace 

10, and 8 ; B. 2, D. 9, and A. 3. D. returns the 
7, on which C. throws ace and returns 8 ; A. takes 
with qu., draws the last trump, and makes five 
tricks in hearts, the odd trick and game. 

The lead of master cards, or of singletons, is not 
systematic, since sometimes neither are held. 

There are but two systems in whist. The one 
is the long-suit play, and everything is to be sacri- 
ficed to its demand. The other is of situation, 
admitting all modes of brilliancy in play, and 



Whist Practice. 167 

chief among them the practice of finesse in variety. 
The one peremptorily orders your play; the other 
would take counsel of your judgment. The one 
proposes instantcr to take your partner (and, per 
consequence, your opponents) into your confidence. 
The other would have partner and adversary con- 
sider your plans as you see fit to unfold them. 
The one is short and simple, handy for hazard and 
pleasant for pastime. The other is long and intri- 
cate, ingenious in incident, and fruitful in finesse. 

Trumps. 

Trumps, the artillery of the hand, are not re- 
quired, as a general rule, to do service as often or 
as regularly in the early part of an engagement by 
American as by English Whist. They act as our 
reserve, in many instances. By the foreign regu- 
lation, a player holding five, leads a trump at the 
first opportunity, or calls for one to be led by his 
partner. Holding six, he leads trump without 
allowing any consideration but the performance of 
that duty to possess him. Having drawn the 
trumps from his opponents' and partners hands, if 
he or his partner have good cards to make, they 
can be made; if they have not, the making of the 
adversaries' good cards may, in part, at least, be 



• 



1 6 8 A merican Whist. 

prevented. In the first place, save that it decides a 
short game earlier, bringing out the " honors," and 
making useless further strife, the play of trumps, at 
the outset, from five or more, does not, in a major- 
ity of cases, win more tricks for the player than 
will their proper husbandry and use. If you will 
play twenty or fifty hands in duplicate, you may 
ascertain this fact. In the second place, unless 
there is reason for such action, it is very cheap 
whist that only takes advantage of such manner of 
fortune, and always in the same set way. In the 
third place, the making of a long suit is not the 
only important consideration in the tactics of a 
first-class player. 

It does not seem like a generous employment of 
power. If the gain that is made by this dog-in- 
the-manger policy can be assured in no other way, 
it is justifiable; but as trumps must take tricks, 
unless themselves taken by larger trumps, it is 
considered politic in our game to ascertain for what 
purpose we are to expend them, before putting 
them to use. Merely to take away all the oppo- 
nents' trumps, if it can be done, and then to throw 
a card at risk of partner's holding the best ; or to 
draw the trumps, and after, make some high cards 
on a long suit, is legitimate and probably very 
satisfactory to those who are always striving to 



Whist Practice. 169 

bring about such a result. But we think that we 
see something better and more creditable to accom- 
plish. " Cavendish " says : — 

" It cannot be too strongly impressed that the pri- 
mary use of strength in trumps is to draw the adversa- 
ries' trumps for the bringing in of your own or your 
partner's long suit. With great strength in trumps, 
five or more, you may proceed at once to disarm the 
opponents, and lead trumps, without waiting to estab- 
lish a suit." 

If the largest number of tricks can be made 
by at once leading trumps, that is the way to play. 
We object, however, to the advice that makes the 
primary use of trumps subservient to the most 
hostile intention. Adversaries at w T hist are not 
enemies. We would fairly win or fairly lose, at 
any rate we will fairly play. The first use of 
trumps is their employ to make our tricks. If we 
can make them serviceable to that end, although 
we lose a trick or more to our opponents' trumps, 
and we by skilful play make more than we have 
lost, and it may be more than in a defiant game 
we should have made, we have used our trumps to 
best advantage. We confess that there are few 
coups that please us more than those which put 
their veto on an ambitious lead of trumps by a 



1 70 American Whist. 

player holding four or five. Game XXXVIII. in 
"Cavendish/' illustrated p. 214, in which B. holds 
the game (he wants but one point) in his own 
hand, and throws it away, is an impressive exam- 
ple. It is the plan of the English player to draw 
trumps and make the long suit. It may be said 
to be his only plan. Supposing that this was the 
best part of whist, and worthy of all acceptation, 
which is not true, did it ever occur to you that the 
attempts to bring in long suits were generally foiled 
by able players ? If you will think a moment, you 
will remember that each player always has a long 
suit, and you must be aware that each player can- 
not make it ; in fact, that only one of four can be 
made, and not that one sometimes is rendered 
available. While you are endeavoring to arrange 
for the trumps to fall to please you, the adversaries 
are quite equally determined to hinder such result, 
and if so be that the power is in their hands, 
you may have lost all chance for making good use 
of the trumps that you hold. A thirteenth card is 
sometimes made, but not very often, and the long- 
est suit held at the table, as a general rule, is thrown 
away by piecemeal, very reluctantly, but very uni- 
formly. 

"Cavendish" gives us thirty-eight* illustrated 
hands, and the long-suit system in play is, in them 

* In the last edition there are thirty-nine. 



}\ 7 hist Practice. 171 

all, scrupulously intended to be carried out. But 
the longest suits that are held by the respective 
players are not the successful ones. Even when 
assisted by high trumps they do not always win 
the tricks. It is true that each game is laid out 
for a purpose, and the play conforms to an illustra- 
tion, still the long-suit plan is constantly adhered 
to. The games are not well played in many par- 
ticulars. It is not of that, however, that we now 
speak, but only that very many of the attempts to 
bring in the longest suit fail utterly. In hand VI., 
Z. has six spades, and does not make one of them. 
In hand VII., A. has seven spades, and does not 
make one of them. In hand VIII., A. holds five 
trumps and six diamonds, and makes but one dia- 
mond. In hand IX., Z. has six diamonds, and does 
not make one of them. In hand XII., B. has six 
clubs (trumps) to help six hearts of his partner, 
and loses the odd trick. In hand XIX., A. has 
sexieme to k. in clubs, and by the play makes two, 
although, had Z. played properly, he could have 
made but one of them. In hand XX., B. has six 
clubs, and makes but one of them. In hand XXL, 
Z. has five hearts, and does not make one of 
them, although he has quart to k. and two more 
diamonds (trumps). In hand XXII, A., with eight 
hearts and seven trumps, headed with ace and king, 



172 American Whist. 

in his own and partner's hand, makes but a single 
heart. In hand XXVIII., Z. has six trumps 
and his partner two, the k. and qu., and five clubs, 
and does not make one of the clubs. In hand 
XXXI., B. makes three tricks out of six hearts, but 
it is because of Y.'s bad play. In hand XXXIII., 
A. has six spades and with five of the best trumps 
in his partner's hand, and k. and another in his 
own, does not make one of the spades. In hand 
XXXIV., B., with seven clubs, does not make one 
of them. In hand XXXV, A., with six diamonds, 
makes but one of them, and his partner, with six 
spades, does not make one of them; and in hand 
XXXVI., A. has five hearts, and B. six diamonds, 
neither of which take a trick. What was sacrificed 
in these different hands by the rigid conformity to 
system, which the rank and situation of the cards 
did not warrant, will be shown by the play of the 
same hands in illustrated American Whist. 

It may be said, some of these were suits of small 
cards, and could not win ; true, and some of them 
were master cards and did not win. It may also 
be said that the opposing parties made some of 
their long suits; but the longest suits that were 
held in these hands did not make. We only care 
to show that the attempts to make long suits fail 
as frequently as they succeed, that it takes two 



Whist Practice. 173 

long suits to make one successful, and that not 
always can one be established by the aid of the 
other, and, in brief, that there are other matters to 
be considered of as much consequence in playing 
whist as the bringing in of long suits. The pecul- 
iar long-suit play belongs more to Short Whist than 
to Standard Whist, as the brevity of the game needs 
swifter information from partner to partner. We 
are not unwilling to use more ingenuity than Short 
Whist demands, to draw inferences from deeper 
and better play and plans than such as can be too 
quickly revealed, and to be rewarded by results 
that we have earned by management. If it is best 
instantly to say to our partner by playing k. of 
diamonds that we have ace or qu., very well ; but 
if we do not care to announce to him that we have 
seven or eight trumps, that is also well When 
the hand is played, place the cards, and by the early- 
communication plan make one more trick than we 
have made, and you shall have credit for better 
play than ours. If men play whist for the rattling 
fun of the thing, A. may throw a spade, then C. a 
heart, then B. a club, then D. a diamond ; each 
swiftly announcing, " I have four or five of that 
suit ; " but if they play it to elicit the beauty of 
the game of combinations, they may at certain times 
make necessity for partner and opponent to use 



i74 American Whist 

their sharpest wit for the unravelling of their pur- 
poses. At a practice-game of experts, B. asked : 
" Why did you play the kn., the best of three, when 
you knew by my play that I had the best club ? " 
" Because, now that you have taken my knave, you 
have played, not your best club, which you will 
presently need for re-entry, but a trump that I 
wanted you to lead to me, but which I did not 
want to lead. Now we will take every trick." 
And so it proved. 

The struggle made from the beginning of the 
play of the hand to bring in the long suit, full 
oftentimes results in the overthrow of the plan 
itself, and the success of a similar suit in the hand 
of the opponent. 

The conversation of the game may be direct or 
ambiguous. The good partner is not desirous to 
be assured concerning every play. The interest 
would cease if calculation was ignored. The order 
of lead and follow, for which Short Whist has taken 
out a patent, and the five-trump-lead, no matter 
what comes of it, are properly mechanical, and suit 
an ordinary hazard game that hopes for " honors " 
and for luck to hasten it. We think that " Caven- 
dish " is right in recommending the absolutism of 
trump play, for his x is a short game, and he has the 
stakes to consider for himself and partner. Advan- 



Whist Practice. 175 

e gained in any way is the rule in such a game. 
In American Whist it is not our purpose to wreck 
another hand, whether or not we are to be gainers 
by such course, but rather by management, whose 
influence extends to all the hands, to induce the 
play of others to inure to our benefit. 

Every player will approve the ingenuity of Des- 
chapelles, Clay, and " Cavendish," in their advance 
management for gaining tricks when the hand is 

O DO 

half-way played, and when the ordinary player 
cannot understand their intent. What shall we 
say of him, who, on taking up his hand, plans and 
plays his game from his first lead with *a precau- 
tion and finesse that sets all common rut-rule at 
defiance ? And if the routine player is to have 
credit at the beginning of a hand for invariably 
leading in a specified manner, right or wrong re- 
sulting, is he who by shrewd tactics draws all the 
three players to the assistance of his plan, to receive 
no applause ? 

In this connection we give an instance of play. 
It is a new game, there is no score. B. has turned 
9 of hearts, and D. has played 4 of clubs. A. holds 
t, 10, 7, 6, 3, 2, clubs, kn., 8, 6, 5, 4, 2, hearts, and 
ace spades. Now the book play is to begin the 
call for trumps. Short Whist would tolerate no 
other play. But A. is a fine player, and proposes 



176 A merican Whist. 

to be master of the situation. He knows D. will 
not lead from a four-suit major tenace. He also 
knows that D. has four clubs and not five, for D. 
has led the lowest. A. does not want trumps led 
to him from a low or a short suit. If the high 
trumps are against him, they must make ; but with 
his hand and a club lead from the right, he marks 
out his course. Between 0. and B. there can be 
but three clubs. The 9 may be B.'s only trump, 
and it must not be called. It is not necessary that 
his partner should at present know how many 
trumps he holds. He is sure of his own game, as 
he believes, and his partner may play as he pleases. 
He threw the 2 of clubs, CLkn., B. ace. The queen 
then is with C. or D. B. played ace of diamonds. 
Then he had not the small club, or he would have 
returned it through the strong suit. A/s play now 
is, that qu. of clubs, if there, shall fall on his left. 
He threw ace of spades upon the diamond. An 
ordinary player would have thrown a low club. B., 
if holding but two trumps, will play a spade to what 
he supposes A's commanding suit, but knowing 
that A. must be strong also in clubs or hearts, for 
D. cannot have both k. and qu. of clubs, he secures 
one round of trumps. Noting that the 4 nor 2 
falls, he knows A. must have one of them, and so 
four trumps. He continues with the ace, and qu. 



Whist Practice. 177 

and 10 fall, and the 4 nor 2 does not. A. then has 
all the trumps. B. plays the low diamond, A. 
trumps, leads low club, qu. falls, B. trumps with 9, 
and all the rest of the tricks are A.'s, the thirteen 
made in one hand. This is whist which Mr. Pole's 
" theory " cannot anticipate. It may be said that 
the plodding game of calling for trumps would 
have contributed to a similar result. That might 
have been as the cards happened to be held, but 
it would have exhibited no such fine play. The 
way to play the hand was the w r ay in which A. 
played it. It is deep play, however, and such 
players as A. could show our English cousins much 
of this kind of work that would seem marvellous 
in their eyes. 

The hands are given, that the play may be 
better understood. D. led from 9, 8, 5, 4, clubs ; 7, 
5, 4, 3, spades ; k, 8, 2, diamonds, and qu., 3, hearts. 
A.'s hand has been given. C. held k, qu., kn., 9, 
spades , 10, 7, hearts; qu., kn., 10, 5, 3, diamonds; 
qu., kn., clubs. B. held ace and four small dia- 
monds ; ace, k, 9, hearts ; ace clubs, and four small 
spades. 

It may be inferred that all were good players at 
this table. It would not do for B. to make the 
mistake of playing the 9 of hearts after taking 
with the ace, for D. would have made one of his 

12 



178 American Whist. 

clubs, as he could understand that he had better 
give away k. of diamonds than 5 of clubs. 

The beauty of whist-playing does not consist in 
making long suits, but in creating and conquering 
situations. The finest situation is when your oppo- 
nents play for your benefit, you having planned 
the course that they must take. 

The English rule, " Do not force your partner if 
you are weak in trumps," is one that finds small 
favor in American Whist. It is one of the very 
reasons why we force him when we have ascer- 
tained that he has signified no strength. If he is 
weak in trumps, and I am weak also, shall I not 
give him. a chance to make one of his small trumps, 
while I know that when the opponents lead, we 
must • both surrender at discretion ? The book- 
players have an idea that the rule is of value ; that 
if they lead a card for partner to trump, it may do 
him injury. To one of them, who wrote me a 
kind letter on this subject, I made answer, which, 
as it expresses my views, I copy : — The fault with 
the English book-players is, that they play all 
English book. It does not seem to occur to them 
that the partner need not accept the force. If he 
has a tenace he throws the lead; if he has poor 
trumps, how can he better play than to take the 
trick, and what favor could you have done him 



Whist Practice. i 79 



greater than to have given him the chance ? He 
lias had a chance to call and did not improve it, 
the adversaries have or have not called ; you have 
had a chance to play trumps and did not. What is 
the inference but that you and your partner are 
weak ? Then make your trumps when you can. 
The first thing is to make the tricks, the books 
to the contrary notwithstanding. If your adver- 
saries are strong, they will rid you of your hus- 
banded trumps at the first opportunity. You are 
each to play both hands, you say. Certainly. 
Can you better do it than to make the most out of 
them ? Your good cards in short suits will take as 
well after you have made one or two small trumps 
as before. Suppose you have ace, k, 7, 5, 3 of 
a plain suit (spades) and the lead. Hearts trumps, 
of which you have but one. To both k. and ace 
your partner renounces, but does not call for 
trumps. Your adversaries do or do not call. Will 
you refuse because you have but one trump, to play 
another spade ? Do you not see that your partner 
has the advantage of yet another discard if he does 
not choose to trump ? 

Drayson. in his grand opposition to some of the 
untenable English rules, says : " Do not run av 
with the idea that to refuse to force your partner be- 
cause you are weak in trumps is a safe game. It is a 



180 American Whist. 

dangerous game, because you are refusing to make 
a certain trick, on the speculation that you may 
probably win more by so doing ; if your specula- 
tion is incorrect, you lose by your reticence." He 
offers the following rule, which is preferable to that 
in force : " Unless your partner has shown great 
strength in trumps, a wish to have them drawn, or 
has refused to trump a doubtful card, give him the 
option of making a small trump, unless you have 
good reason for not doing so, other than a weak suit 
of trumps in your own hand." This is English, 
and rather lengthy. If there was necessity for a 
rule, we should say: "Force your partner, if the 
situation warrants your doing so," and if he did not 
see fit to accept the force, he would be able to give 
a good reason for his discard. 

We may add that some of the best games we 
have seen have been saved or won against strong 
trump hands by the proper force at the proper time 
by players who were without strength to resist a 
trump attack. As an illustration, I append a 
synopsis of one played recently : — 

The game stood five each, not five " all," as the 
English would have it. The ace of hearts was 
turned on my left. I held the 7 and 4. My part- 
ner played k. and ace of clubs, then, as the qu. fell 
on my left, led a diamond from k. and three others. 



IV/iist Practice. i8i 



I played the ace, holding qu. and another, folio 1 
with the qu., which took, my left-hand adven 

calling for trumps. I played the k. and ace of 
spades, and the fall of the cards showed me nc 
more spades in my partner's hand nor to my right. 
The call was echoed. I then played a small spade 
and not a diamond, my partner's lead. He trumped 
with the k. of hearts, his only trump, and we won 
the odd card against ten trumps, six to my left and 
four to my right. By the English rule we should 
have lost the game, for our opponents could claim 
that they held three cards, neither of which they 
had a chance to play. It may be said that " Cav- 
endish" provides for this case in his fourth excep- 
tion. The fact is, he plays fast and loose upon the 
whole matter. His own exceptions cover nearly 
all cases, and render the rule a nullity. 

We quote a single hand of successful finesse, 
more especially to show how book-rule as to the 
play of plain suits, and the lead of trumps, was 
set aside by an ingenious player : — 

Score A., B., 1, C, D., 6 ; 3 of hearts turned. D. 
plays 5 of spades. A.'s hand is ace, qu., 9, 4, 
hearts, ace, k, km, 8, 4, 3, spades, 7 and 2, dia- 
m^^, 5 of clubs. 

The book-play is the k., and the next lead, the 4 
of hearts. A. has six points to make. He infers 



1 8 2 A merican Whist. 

that D., having four spades, leads with qu. or 10 at 
the head. He plays kn. second, and not k., C, 9, 
B., 2. A. now knows that D. had four, and that C. 
has the 10, or no more. He must throw the lead 
intc his partner's hand, and, to assure him of his 
poverty in diamonds, plays the 2, C, kn., B., ace, 
D., 3. B. sees A.'s strength in spades, and why he 
did not lead them. C. may be calling, but B. has 
no alternative ; he must play a trump ; the lead of 
the small diamond is suggestive. He plays 10 of 
hearts, D., 6. A. finesses the 10, playing 4, C, 2, — 
B., 5, hearts, D., kn., A., qu., C, 7, — A., ace, C, 8, B., 
3, D., k. A. must now throw the lead again into 
his partner's hand, as his only chance of making 
six by cards. He must play the club, for his part- 
ner has not k. or qu. of diamonds, or he would not 
have played the ace. A., 5, clubs; C. holds ace, 
qu., but, being sure of one trick in clubs, and one 
in diamonds, plays the qu., B., k., D., 3. B. leads 
6 of spades, D., 7 ; A. finesses 8, C. renounces ; A. 
now makes all the tricks but the 7 of diamonds, 
and A. B. score six points, and the game. 

It may be said that C. should not have thrown 
qu. second, but he did not fathom A.'s intent and 
hoped to make three tricks by his play; and ttiat 
D. played erroneously in throwing 7 second ; he 
should have played 10, forcing k. But the hand is 



Whist Practice. 183 

a study, and as a specimen of play in finesse is re- 
markable. After the play, A. stated that when he 
saw the 5 of spades fall as the lead, his game must 
be one of faith in finesse. Play of this order, which 
could be attained by many who now play, as they 
think, very well, ought to be understood by them, 
and they should find partners to follow it as it pro- 
gresses. So coolly and easily was this hand man- 
aged by A., that a looker-on over D.'s hand, who 
plays whist, said that he thought all the time after 
A.'s knave took the first trick, A. held ace only be- 
side, and B. all the spades. Such play as this is 
not provided for in Dr. Pole's " theory," and a 
Short Whist player would, after playing k. second, 
have been curious to ascertain only if his partner 
had an " honor." He would have been put in pos- 
session of that valuable information at the cost of 
the game. A.'s hand has been given. C. held ace, 
qu., 7, 3 c, 8, 7, 2 h, 9 a., qu., km, 9, 4, 3 d. E. 
held k. and four small clubs, 10, 5, 3 h., G, 2 s., 
ace, 8, 6 d. D. held kn. and two small clubs, k., 
km, 6 h., qu., 10, 7, 5 s., k, 10, 5 d. 

This then is genuine whist. Know your oir,i 
hand and make your calculations upon it. The 
score, the trump, the rank of the trump, the prob- 
abilities, the possibilities of play must be taken 
into account. Have a purpose in view and play 



184 American Whist. 

to compass it. If defeated in your plan, change 
your tactics if you are allowed opportunity to do 
so. Let no stereotyped notions contest your inge- 
nious play. Let your cards tell the truth, but send 
such ones as you please, to convey as much of it as 
you see fit to explain. Your partner will no more 
expect you to intimate too much to him, than he 
would ask you to call his attention to your desire 
for trumps by the more emphatic play of 8 first, 
and then 2, when you held the 3. If it is your 
play to inform at once of a certain suit, do so cer- 
tainly; but, if you think that you see a better play, 
make it, as readily as you would throw the lead 
later in the game. Despite all book-rule, play 
whist as your judgment directs. If you are a good 
player, that judgment must take precedence of lim- 
ited instruction. Know the laws and never break 
them. Know the rules and when to break them 
with impunity. Brilliant play is better than rou- 
tine play. Play your own hand, and in the playing 
it play not only your partner's but the hands of 
the opponents. The strife at whist is oftentimes 
a friendly one with the whole table. If you have 
five trumps or more, think what is to be done with 
them that not one shall fail of service. Whist asks 
for brain-work. Eemember how embracing is its 
theory. Consider that the game is always new 



II 7/ is i Practice. i8=; 



With every hand you enter upon an untried expe- 
rience. By no mere knowledge or employment of 
partial rule can you solve or nullify the varied 
problems of this philosophy of recreative life. 



EXAMPLES AND OVERPLAY. 



Dr. Pole gives us five examples of hands and 
remarks as follows : — 

The following are a few simple hands played through. 
They are not intended to exemplify skill, for, as in 
almost all hands, the play might admit of modification 
according to the capabilities of the several players ; — 
they have merely the object of illustrating the routine 
practice of some of the more common and important 
points in the modern game ; — such as the signal for 
trumps, forcing, the return of a suit, discarding, and 
so on. 

A. and B. are partners against C. and D.; the attention 
being chiefly directed to the play of the two former. 
The reader is supposed to play the elder hand A. The 
winner of each trick is marked with an asterisk. 



Examples and Overplay. 



i8 7 



Example I.* 

The object of this example is to illustrate the making 
of a long plain suit, by the aid of your partner's long 
suit of trumps ; the trump lead being called for by 
signal. 

Hearts. Kg. 8, 6, 4, 2. 
Spades. 6, 2. 
Diamonds. 9, 6, 3, 2. 
Clubs. A. 7. 



Hearts. A. Q. Kn. 
Spades. 8, 7, 5. 
Diamonds. A. 10. 
Clubs. Q. Kn. 10, 



Hearts Trumps. 

C D 

(Dealer) 

9 turned up. 
A 



Hearts. 9, 5, 3. 
Spades. Q. Kn. 

Diamonds. Kg. Q. 

Kn. 8, 7. 
Clubs. 9, 4, 2. 



Hearts. 10, 7. 

Spades. A. Kg. 10, 9, 4, 3. 

Diamonds. 5, 4. 

Clubs. Kg. 8, 6. 



* "We give a few selected hands of play, and the overplay of 
these, for the practice of interested parties. In "Illustrated 
Games," we shall present a variety, played by both methods, 
the English and American, and some new hands as played by 
a quartette of fme players of the American game. 



i88 



American Whist. 



Trick. Play. 


Trick. Play. 


I. *A. King of Sp. 


y. c. q. of ci. 


C. 5 " 


*B. A. " 


B. 6 " 


D. 2 " 


Remark. —Having five trumps, C. 


A. 6 " 


signals to have them led. A. not 
seeing the 2 fall, will know that some 






one is asking for trumps, and will 




therefore carefully watch the next 


VI. B. 4 of H. 


round. 

D. Knave " 


D. 9 " 

A. 4 of Di. 




*C. A. of H. 




II. *A. AceofSp. 




C. 7 " 




B. 2 " 


VII. C. Kn. of CI. 


Remark. — Trump signal com- 


B. 7 « 


pleted. 


D. 4 " 


D.Q 


♦A. Kg. " 






III. A. 10 of H. 




Remark. — In obedience to trump 


VIII. *A. 10 of Sp 


signaL 


Remark. — A. has now brought in 


C. Kn. " 


his long suit, and pursues it to the 


*B. Kg. " 
D. 3 " 


end. C. discards his diamonds. It 
is immaterial what the adver-;. ' . 
play. 




IX. *A. 9 " 


IY. B. 2 of H. 


X. *A. 4 " 


D. 5 " 


XI. *A. 3 " 


A. 7 " 


XII. *B. 6 of H. 


*C. Q. " 


XIII. *B. 8 " 



The resiilt is that A. and B. win a treble by cards 
against two by honors, and other considerable adverse 
strength. 



Examples and Overplay. 189 

Example I. — Overplay. 

The object of playing the same cards again with 
the same trump and opening, is to show that when 
C.'s and D.'s hands are properly played, A. can 
make but ace and k. of his long suit, and A. and 
B. make the odd card only. The hands which have 
been given are to be played for the first six rounds 
as already printed. It is now C.'s play, and he 
knows that the two remaining trumps are in B.'s 
hand, and all the spades in A.'s hand. If A. has 
k. of clubs, and C. plays km, A. and B. must make 
every trick, therefore 



7. 




8. 




C, ace, d. 




C, 10, d. 




B.,2. 




B., 3. 




D.,7. 


A. B., 4. 


D., kn. 


A B., 4. 


A., 5. 


C. D., 3. 


A., 3, s. 


C. D., 4. 


9 




10. 




D., k., i 




D., qu., (1. 




A., 4, s. 




A, 9, s. 




; , c 


A. B., 4. 


C, 5, c. 


A. B., 4. 


i;., 6, d 


C. D., 5. 


r.., 9, d. 


C. D., 6. 



11, 12, and 13. B. makes his two trumps, and 
A. the k. of clubs. A. and B. make one point in 
place of five. 



190 



American Whist. 



Example II. 

In this the elder hand (A.) has the same long suit as 
before, but the strength in trumps is now given to the 
adversaries. The example is intended to illustrate how 
a long suit, though it may not be brought in, may be 
made useful in. forcing the strong adverse trump hand. 

Hearts. Q. Kn. 5. 
Spades. 6. 

Diamonds. A. 8, 7, 3. 
Clubs. A. Q. Kn. 7, 2. 



Hearts. A. 9, 8. 
Spades. 8, 7, 5, 2. 
Diamonds. 9, 6, 2. 
Clubs. 10, 4, 3. 


B 

Hearts Trumps. 

C D 

(Dealer) 

King turned up. 
A 


Hearts. Kg. 10, 6, 
4,2. 

Spades. Q. Kn. 

Diamonds. Kg. Q. 
Kn. 10. 

Clubs. 9, 5. 


1 


learts. 7, 3. 




Spades. A. Kg. 10, 
Diamonds. 5, 4. 


9, 4, 3. 


( 


)lubs. Kg. 8, 6. 





Examples and Overplay. 



191 



Trick. Play. 


Trick. 


Play. 


I. *A. King of Sp. 


VI. D. 


6 of H. 


c. -i " 


A. 


4 of Di. 


B. 6 


C. 


8 of 11. 


D. Q. 


*B. 


Q. « 


Remark. — Commencement of sig- 






nal for trumps. 


VII. *B. 


A. of CI. 




D. 


5 " 


II. *A. A. of Sp. 


A. 


6 " 


Remark. —Better to go on with 


C. 


3 " 


spades at the risk of being trumped 






than to open a new weak suit. 


VIII. B. 


Q. of CI. 


C. 5 


D. 


9 " 


B. 3 of Di. 


♦A. 


Kg. " 


D. Kn. of Sp. 


Remark. — To get rid of the com- 


Remark. — Signal completed. 


mand. 






c. 


4 " 


III. A. lOofSp. 


IX. A. 


9 of Sp. 


Remark. — To force the adverse 


Remark. — Repeating the form to 


hand which has, by asking for trumps, 


extract the last trump. 


declared itself strong in them. 


c. 


8 " 


C. 7 " 


B. 


8 of Di. 


B. 7 of Di. 


*D. 


10 of H. 


*D. 2 of II. 








X. D. 
A. 


10 of Di. 




5 " 


IV. D. 4 of II. 


C. 


2 " 


A. 3 " 


*B. 


A " 


*C. A. " 










B. 5 " 


XI. *B 


Kn. of CI. 




Remark. — The 
ing now all foic 


adverse trumps he- 




ed out, C, having 


V. C. 9 of II. 


gained the lead by a card of re-entry, 


B. Kn. " 


brings in his clubs, and makes them 
alL 


*D. Kg. " 


XII. *B 


. 7 


A. 7 " 


XIII. *B 


■2 " 



A. and B. gain 3 by cards. 



192 A merican Whist. 

Example II. — Overplay. 

In this example D. called for trumps, having five 
and a fine suit of diamonds. Being forced, lie after- 
ward played as suited his hand. 



A. k. s. 




A. ace s. 




C. 2. 




C. 5. 




B. 6.. 




B. 3d. 




D. qu. 


A. B. 1. 


D. kn. s. 


A B. 2. 




C. D. 0. 




C. D. 0. 




D. has called for trumps. 




3. 




4. 




A. 10 s. 




D. k. d. 




C. 7. 




A 4 




B. 7d. 




C. 2. 




D. 2h. 


A. B. 2. 


B. ace. 


A. B. 3. 




C D. 1. 




C. D. 1. 



A. plays, trick 3, to force the caller ; D., trick 4, 
to test the situation of the diamonds. 



5. 








6. 




B. ace c. 








B. qu. c. 




D. 5. 








D.9, 




A. 6. 








Ak. 




C. 3. 


A. 


B. 


4 


C. 4 


A. B. 5. 


. 


C. 


D. 


1. 




C. D. 1. 



Examples and Overplay. 193 

A. properly, trick 6, plays k. to keep B. in com- 
mand. 

7. 8. 



A. 9 s. 




D. qu. d. 




C. 8. 




A 5. 




B. 8d. 




0. 6. 




D.4h. 


A. B. 5. 


B. 5 h. 


A. B. 6. 




C. D. 2. 




C. D. 2. 



A., trick 7, plays the force again, and B. throws 
his last diamond that he may trump D.'s lead. 

9. 10. 

B. kn. c. D. 10 h. 
D. 6 h. A3 h. 

A 8 c. A B. 6 C. ace. A B. 6 

C. 10 c. C. D. 3. B. kn. C. D. 4. 

Trick 10, D. 10 hearts. This is the decisive 
play. D. can read the hands. A has the two low 
spades, for C. has played the 8 on A's 9. B. has 
the two low clubs, for C. has played the 10, and A. 
the 8, himself the 9, on a previous lead, and C. has 
three trumps and the 9 of diamonds. If the ace 
and qu. of trumps are against him, it makes no 
difference how D. plays, but if his partner has the 
ace, C. and D. make all the tricks. C. under- 

13 



194 



American Whist. 



stands the situation, takes 10 with ace, returns the 
8, and C. and D. make the odd card. The long 
suit of spades nor that of clubs were of much 
avail, the difference between poor play and correct 
play being four points. 



Example III. 

The object of this is to illustrate the value of the 
discard, as a means of communicating information. 

Hearts. A. 9, 7, 6. 
Spades. 6, 2. 

Diamonds. Q. Kn. 10, 9, 4. 
Clubs. 8, 3. 



Hearts. Q. 8, 5. 
Spades. Kn. 10, 4. 
Diamonds. A. 3. 
Clubs. A. Q. 9, 7, 



Hearts Trumps. 

C D 

(Dealer) 

10 turned up. 
A 



Hearts. Kn. 10, 3. 

Spades. 9, 8, 7. 

Diamonds. 8, 7, 
6,2. 

Clubs. Kn. 10, 4. 



Hearts. Kg. 4, 2. 
Spades. A. Kg. Q. 5, 3. 
Diamonds. Kg. 5. 
Clubs. Kg. 6, 5. 



Examples and Overplay. 195 



Trick. Play. 

L *A. Kg. of Sp. 

C. 4 

B. 2 " 

D. 7 " 



II. *A. Q. of Sp. 

C. 10 " 
B. 6 " 

D. 8 " 



III. *A. A. of Sp. 

C. Kn. " 

B. 3 of CI. 

Remark. — This discard at once 
gives great insight into S.'s hand. 
He discards from his weak suit, and 
therefore he ought to he strong in 
trumps and diamonds. But he has 
not 5 trumps or he would have sig- 
nalled for them, and hence, in all 
probability, he has at least 4 or 5 
diamonds. 

D. 9 of Sp. 



IV. A. Kg. of Di. 

Remark. — The spade lead being 
now unadvisable, A. is justified in 
acting on the information gained by 
his partner's discard, and leads a 
strengthening diamond. 

*C. A 
B. 4 " 

D. 2 " 



V. *C. A of CI. 
B. 8 " 
D. 4 " 
A. 5 " 



Trick. 



VI. 



Play. 

C. 2 of CI. 
B. Q. of Di. 

Remark. — This second discard 
completes the full information as to 
C.'s hand. In the first place, having 
passed a doubtful trick, he has more 
than three trumps, and as we have 
seen, he has not five, he must have 
four with three diamonds. Secondly, 
his discarding the best diamond shows 
he has command of the suit. 

D. 10 of CI. 
*A. Kg. " 



VII. *A. Kg. of H. 

Remark. — Strengthening trump 
lead, justified by the knowledge 
gained in the last trick. 

C. 5 " 
B. 6 " 

D. 3 " 



VIII. 



A. 4 of H. 

C. 8 " 
*B. A. " 

D. 10 " 



IX. 



B. 7 of H. 
D. Kn. " 
A. 2 " 

*C. Q. " 



X. C. Q. of CI. 
*B. 9 of H. 

Remark. — Uses the last trump to 
bring in his diamonds. 

D. Kn. of CI. 
A. 6 " 

XI. *B. 9 of Di. 
XII. *B. 10 " 
XIII. *B. Kn." 



A. and B. win 4 by cards. 



196 



American Whist. 



Example III. 

There are but three tricks possible for C. and D. 
in this hand as may be seen at the first glance at 
the position of the cards, no matter who leads. A. 
and B. have all the kings and two of the queens 
all guarded, two of the aces and the long suit of 
trumps. The hand plays itself. But it is a good 
lesson as to the value of a discard, and deserves to 
be played over and understood. 



Example IV. 

The object of this is to illustrate the advantage of 
returning the proper card of your partner's lead, as a 
means of conveying information. 

Hearts. A. 9, 3, 2. 
Spades. A. Q. 6, 2. 
Diamonds. Kg. 5, 4. 
Clubs. 6, 3. 



Hearts. Kn. 6. 
Spades. 10,9,8,7. 
Diamonds. 9, 6. 
Clubs. Q. 10, 9, 
5,2. 



Hearts. Kg. Q. 10, 7. 
Spades. Kg. 4, 3. 
Diamonds. 10, 7, 2. 
Clubs. Kn. 8, 7. 



Hearts. 


8, 


5,4. 




B 


Spades 


Kn 


. 5. 




Hearts Trumps. 


Diamoi 


ids. 


A. 


Q. 


C D 

(Dealer) 


Kn. 


5, 3. 






6 turned up. 


Clubs. 


A. 


Kg. 


4. 


A i 



Examples and Overplay. 197 



Trick. 



I. A. 



Play. 
7ofH. 



Remark. — In this hand every 
plain suit is so bad to lead that the 
trump lead with such strength is 
quite justifiable. 

C. 4 " 
*B. A. " 

D. 6 " 



II. B. 2 of H. 

Remark. — From this card re- 
turned, B. must either have had four 
or two. 

D. Kn. " 

*A. Q. " 

C. 5 " 



III. *A. 10 of H. 

Remark. — It is justifiable to take 
out another round of trumps, though 
two may fall for one : partly to see 
how they lie, and partly to get a dis- 
card from some one as a guide for the 
next lead. Leading the 10 instead of 
the King is an additional assurance 
to your partner that you have still 
one left. 

C. 8 " 

B. 3 " 

Remark.— This card shows that 
B., having returned his lowest in the 
last trick, had four at first, and has 
consequently now one remaining, 
which therefore you are careful not 
to draw, as the game will depend on 
the two being made separately. 

D. 6 of Di. 



Trick. 




Play. 




IV. 


A. 


10 of Di. 




Remark. 


— For want of a 


better 


lead, you lead up 


to the suit that has 


been declared weak. 






c. 


Kn. " 






*B. 


Kg. " 






D. 


9 " 




V. 


B. 


2 of Sp. 






D. 


7 " 






*A. 


Kg." 






C. 


5 " 




VI. 


A. 


4 of Sp. 




Remark. 


— See remark, next trick. 




c. 


Kn." 






*B. 


Q. " 






D. 


8 " 




VII. 


*B. 


A. of Sp. 






D. 


9 " 






A. 


3 " 





Remark. — This shows that you 
(A.) having returned your highest, 
had not more than three spades origi- 
nally, and consequently have no more 
left. Your partner (B. ), therefore, ob- 
serving this, sees that by leading the 
losing spade, he will enable you to 
make your trump separately from his, 
which will win the game. 

C. 4 of CI. 



VIII. B. 6 of Sp. 
D. 10 " 
*A. Kg. of H. 

Remark. — You trump without 
hesitation, knowing your partner to 
hold the other trump. 

C. 3 of Di. 



B. makes the last trump, and A. and B. make 3 by 
cards and 2 by honors, winning a treble. 



198 



American Whist. 



Example IV. 

Here, too, the power is all in one direction. C. 
and D. can make but four tricks. But the play is 
incorrect. D., trick 3, should have thrown 2 of 
clubs. Trumps were against him, and clubs his 
long suit. C. plays poorly in trick 4, he knows! 
that the 10 of diamonds is led from three, and J 
should have played ace. 

Example V. 

This example is given to show how singularly, under 
extreme circumstances, the bringing in of a long suit 
may annihilate the most magnificent cards. The hand 
is a very remarkable whist curiosity : A. and B. hold 
all the honors in every plain suit, and two honors in 
trumps, and yet do not make a single trick ! 

Spades. Q. Kn. 

Diamonds. Kn. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. 

Clubs. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. 



Hearts. A. Q. 10, 

8. 

Spades. 10, 9, 8, 7, 
6, 5, 4, 3, 2. 


B 

Hearts Trumps. 

C D 

(Dealer) 

2 turned up. 
A 


Hearts. 6, 5, 4, 3, 

2. 
Diamonds. 5, 4, 

3,2. 

Clubs. 5, 4, 3, 2. 


J 

] 

( 


hearts. Kg. Kn. 9, 
Spades. A. Kg. 
Diamonds. A. Kg. 
31ubs. A. Kg. Q. K 


7. 

Q. 
In. 



Examples and Overplay. 199 



Trick. Play 


Trick. 


Play. 




I. A. 7 of H. 


IV. 


C. 3 of Sp. 




Remarks. — There can be no doubt 




B. Q. " 


^ 


about this being the proper lead. 




*D. 5 of H. 




*C. 8 " 




A. A. of Sp. 




B. 6 of CI. 








D. 2 of H. 


V 


. D. 6 of H. 

A. Kn. " 
*C. Q. " 

B. 8 of CI. 




II. C. 2 of Sp. 
B. Kn. " 
*D. 3 of H. 

A. Kg. of Sp. 




III. D. 4 of H. 

Remarks. — The propriety of this 
lead is often questioned ; but it is de- 


VI. 


*C. A. of H. 
A. Kg. " 




fended by the impolicy of leading 








either of the extremely weak plain 








suits, and by the lead of trumps be- 




d 

*B. lOofSp. 
*B. 9 " 
*B. 8 " 




ing up to a renouncing hand, and 
therefore the most favorable possible. 
Also, by giving C. the lead again, it 
enables him to continue the spade, 


VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 




for D. to make his small trumps upon. 


X. 


*B. 7 " 




A. 9 " 


XI. 


*B. 6 " 




*C. 10 " 


XII. 


*B. 5 " 




B. 7 of CI. 


XIII. 


*B. 4 " 





C. and D. win every trick. 



* 



* * 



200 American Whist. 



Example V.* 

There is nothing remarkable about the original 
example except that a triple tenace is arranged for 
C, and five more trumps are given his partner. If 
A. leads a trump, he, holding k. and kn., should 
lead the 9. As the hand is packed, that would make 
110 difference in the result. We will open the 
hand as if A. led from his best plain suit. 



1. 


2. 


A. k. c. 


A. kn. c. 


C. 5 s. 


0. 8 h. 


B. 6 c. 


B. 7 c. 


D. 2. c. 


D. 3 c. 



C. passes k., thinking that D. may have ace. D. 
having five hearts might call, but his cards are so 
inferior, that we doubt his efficiency, save in the 
trumping of spades. If he did call, and C. responded, 
the hand would be quickly played. Play the hand 
through in your own way for practice. 



* Example V. is simply an arranged hand, a triple tenace of 
trumps, and all the spades after two rounds. There are no 
"magnificent " cards. Cards are sometimes neat, sometimes 
handsome, and there are low cards and high cards, but none of 
them are magnificent. Nor do they suffer annihilation. If A. 
leads a trump, which with four, all uncertain ones, he would not 



Examples and Overplay. 201 

Game of "J. C." and Overplay. 

Whist will not be reduced to a system that 
claims direction. Control by rule cannot be had 
over its variety of display. "J. C," alluding to the 
olden or former ten-point game in America, says, 
" The Americans play for their own hands alone, 



need to do, it is evident in two rounds that he cannot take a 
trick. Dr. Pole's leads are had. He is not reported as a fine 
player, and his leads do not indicate that he understands de- 
tails in good play. The 2 of spades led hy C. (trick 2) signifies 
poverty in the suit, and in all suits, and can indicate no more 
than four of the suit. D.'s inference from the play of the 2d 
round should be that B. held Qu. and ace of spades, and A. no 
more after playing K. The play to be made by C. was the lead 
of the 5 of spades, then the 4. 

But the proper play of A. at the lead was the K. of C. If 
we play the "remarkable curiosity" with that lead, the long 
suit will have trouble to effect "annihilation" of A.'s cards. 

Dr. Pole remarks, there can be no doubt about the play of 
the 7 of trumps being the proper lead. There are evidently 
two reasons why it is not. First, if a trump is to be led, the 
> 9 is the correct play to designate K. and Kn. Second, this is 
eminently a hand to be led up to in trumps, and not one from 
which to lead. "With positive control of all the plain suits, •&A,fi.H^ 
why give the play into other hands ? If A. had tenaces in 
plain suits, or if he held A. or K. Qu. of trumps, a trump lead 
with four would be justifiable, but it will at once be seen that, 
however the rest of the trumps may be disposed, his initial 
play (with his hand) should not disturb them. By leading 
from this hand correctly, quite a different result is produced 
from that announced in the game already played. 



202 American Whist. 

the worst fault I know in a whist-player." But is 
not playing for one's partner's hand, not knowing 
what it is, a fault as bad ? The game of combina- 
tion is correct, but as a general thing, one of the 
parties directs that combination. Your partner plays 
k. and ace of a plain suit. You call for trumps. 
He must obey. In what manner are you playing 
his hand ? In what manner is he playing yours ? 
Are you not playing your own with little care for, 
or reference to, what he may hold ? Perhaps he 
would gladly reserve the trumps he has ; are you 
consulting his wish ? Perhaps his trumps are the 
re-entry cards on which he counts: do you con- 
sider that ? You think that it is best to get out 
trumps and having five, force the play of them. 
The emphatic order of Short Whist is, " Take up 
your hand, see what is your long suit, play from 
it. Having five trumps, play one/' No matter 
about success or disaster, if you begin in this tread- 
mill process, you inform everybody that you are 
doing duty. If you do not win, no matter, you 
have played by book. Good play, that is, book- 
play, you are told, is always right, whether it. suc- 
ceeds or not. You must not be discouraged, but 
always go on and do the same thing again. It will 
succeed sometime, and. then you will have the 
satisfaction of knowing that you have plodded 



Examples and Overplay. 203 

straight on in a specified course, and brought the 
burden of obligation imposed by rule, to deposit at 
the goal. But if you hope to become a player of 
American Whist, we warn you that it is our cus- 
tom to regard our own hands, to measure them, to 
ascertain what had best be done with them at the 
beginning, and to play them as we think they 
ought to be played according to the situation of 
the game. Because we have five cards or six, or 
seven or eight, we do not lead one of them, if it is 
not best in our judgment for the taking of the 
tricks. It generally is best, but of that we propose 
to judge. The plan of assisting the partner's hand, 
the combination, is a part of whist. It is a game 
of partnership. The partners are obliged to play 
for each other. But if you have a partner who 
knows whist, you will find not only that he can 
manage his hand, but that he will do so. He will 
do his own playing, understanding as well as you 
do what is best for the interest of both. He will 
know as well as you do that at certain stages of 
the game it would not be best for you to lead from a 
tenace that you ought to make before the suit is 
trumped, that you must not show him your best 
suit on which you are to depend, or that you can- 
not afford to part with trumps only because they 
make others part with theirs. We print "J. C.'s " 



204 



American Whist. 



game for the odd trick in which nine trumps are 
held by one party. But D., certain of success, 
played the only lead, and made the only plays in 
continuance, that would be by English play for a 
moment tolerated. Better lose by system, and 
with such a hand, than gain by prudence and cal- 
culation. We have only to say, that we should 
have made that hand and the odd trick, and would 
have rather scored the game at the expense of love 
of monotony, than to have lost it at the cost of 
conformity to calculation. A. and B. play the game 
of judgment, doing away with all book-rule in lead 
or follow. C. and D. obey the iron-clad obligation 
of " Get out the trumps, that if you cannot benefit 
yourself you may help your partner, but get out 
the trumps if you have the power to do so." 



" J". C.'s" Game for the odd trick 



A B. 6. C. D. 6. 



8 of Sp. turned. 



A. 

Sp. 6, 3. 
D. 10, 5, 4, 2. 
C. ace,k.,kn.,10. 
H. 10, 4, 3. 



C. 

ace, k., 7. 

k.,kn.,6,3, 

6,2. 

k., kn., 6, 2, 



B. 

8,2. 

ace, qu., 8, 7. 

7, 5, 3. 

ace, qu., 9, 8. 



D. 

qu., kn., 10, 9, 5, 4 

9. 

qu., 9, 8, 4. 

7,5. 



Examples and Overplay. 205 



1. 




2. 


D. qu. 


s. 


D. kn. s. 


A. 3. 


- 


A. 6. 


C. 7. 




C. k. 


, B. 2. 


A. B. 0. 


B. 8. A B. 0. 




C. D. 1. 


C. D. 2. 


s. 




4. 


C. ace, 


s. 


C. 3 d. 


B. 3 


c. 


B. 7. 


D. 4 s. 




D. 9. 


A. 2 d. 


A. B. 0. 


A. 10. A. B. 1. 




C. D. 3. 


C. D. 3. 


5. 




6. 


A. 10 


h. 


A 4 L 


C. 2 


<c 


C. 6. 


B. 8 


ft 


B. 9. 


D. 5 


" A. B. 2. 


D. 7. A. B. 3. 




C. D. 3. 


C. D. 3. 


7. 




8. 


B. 7 c. 




A. 3 h. 


D. 4. 




C. kn. 


A. 10. 




B. qu. 


C. 2. 


A. B. 4. 


D. 5. s. A. B. 4. 




C. D. 3. 


C. D. 4 



2o6 American Whist 



9. 








10. 




D. 8 c. 








A. k. c. 




A. kn. " 








C. 6 d. 




C. 6 " 








B. 8 " 




B. 5 " 


A. 


B. 


5. 


D. 9 c. 


A B. 6. 




C. 


D. 


4. 




C. D. 4. 



Trick 11, A. plays ace clubs upon which D.'s 
queen falls. D. makes his two trumps, trick 12 and 
13. A. and B. win the odd card. This is whist, 
so far as A. and B. are concerned, and machinery so 
far as C. and D. are concerned. Now we will play 
C.'s and D.'s hand as they would have been played 
by American whist-players. You can then, as 
in a thousand instances of similar nature, judge 
whether you had best lose by rule or win by 
common sense- 
Score, trump, and hands have been given. 



D. qu. s. D. 4 c. 

A. 3. A. 10. 
C. 7. C. 2. 

B. 2. A. B. 0. B. 3. A. B. 1. 

C. D. 1. C. D. 1. 

If A. leads from his long suit, then 



Examples and Overplay. 207 



3. 






4. 


A. 2 d. 






B. 8 h. 


C. 3. 






D. 5. 


B. qu. " 






A. 10 " 


D. 9. A. 


B. 


2. 


C. kn. " A. B. 2. 


C. 


D. 


1. 


C. D. 2. 


and the game is won. 


Or, if A. and B. will strive 



in finesse against powerful trumps, 



3. 








4. 




A 10 h 


• 






B. 7 c. 




C. 2. 








D. 8. 




B. ace. 








A. kn. 




D. 5. 


A. 


B. 


2. 


C. 6. 


A. B. 3. 




C. 


D.l. 




C. D. 1. 


5. 








6. 




A. 4 h. 








B. 5 c. 


• 


0. 6. 








D. 9. 




B. 9. 








A. k. 




D. 7. 


A. 


B. 


4. 


C. k. s. 


A. B. 4. 




C. 


D. 


1. 




C. D. 2. 


7. 








8. 




C. 3 d. 








A. 2 d. 




B. 7. 








C. kn. 




D. 9. 








B. qu. 




A 10. 


A 


. I 


!. 5. 


D. 4 s. 


A. B. 5. 



C. D. 2. 0. D. 3. 



208 



American Whist. 



D. then plays qu. of clubs, A. ace, C. ace sp. 
It really makes no difference what A. and B. en- 
deavor to do after the second lead of D. The 
suicidal course of running out his trumps makes 
the former play as given by " J. C." of A. and B. 
excellent of its kind, and successful; but we do 
not play D.'s game in American Whist, and be- 
lieve that there will be accorded to the correct 
manner of play, the proper credit. 



Hand I, of Cavendish. 




Cavendish Laws and Principles, p. 136. 


Score, Love all. 2 of s. turned. 




Sands. 




A. 


C. 


B. 


D. 


S. qu., 10, 5, 3. 


ace, 6, 4. 


k. 7. 


kn., 9, 8, 2 


H. ace. 


kn., 10, 8, 2. 


k., qu., 9, 5, 4. 


7, 6, 3. 


C. ace, 7, 6, 3. 


qu., 10, 9. 


kn., 4. 


k., 8, 5, 2. 


D. k., kn., 9, 2. 


10, 6, 4. 


qu., 8, 7, 5. 


ace, 3. 


The Play. 




1. 2. 




A. 2d. D. 2 c. 




C. 4 d. A. 3 c. 




B. qu. d. C. qu. c. 




D. ace d. A. B. 0. B. 4 c. 


A. B. 0. 




C. D. 1. 




C. D. 2. 



Examples and Overplay. 209 

A. leads from his strongest suit. Having no 
sequence, he leads from the lowest card of the 
suit. The fall of qu. and ace leaves A. with 
winning diamonds and a small one. B. allowing 
qu. to win (trick 2), has not k. 



3. 






4. ' 


C. 2 k 






13s. 


B. qu. h. 






C. 4 s. 


D. 3h. 






B. k. s. 


A. ace h. 


A 


. B. 1. 


D. 2 s. A. B. 2. 




C 


. D. 2. 


C. D. 2. 


B. having k 


., plays qu. 


second. A. with estab 


ihed suit leads trumps from four, trick 4. 


5. 






6. 


B. 7 s. 






C. kn. h. 


D. 8 s. 






B. k. h. 


A. 10 s. 






D. 6h. 


C. ace s. 


A. 


B. 2. 


A. 6 c. A. B. 3. 




C. 


D. 3. 


C. D. 3. 


A. finesses 10 s. 






7. 






8. 


B. 5d. 






A. qu. s. 


D. 3d. 






C. 6 s. 


A. kn. d. 






B. 7d. 


C. 6d. 


A. 


B. 4. 


D. 9 s. A. B. 5. 




C. 


D. 3. 


C. D. 3. 



14 



2io American Whist. 



9. 








10. 




A. k. d. 








D. 5 c. 




C. 10 d. 








A. 7 c. 




B. 8 d. 








C. 9 c. 




D. kn. s. 


A. 


B. 


5. 


B. kn. c. 


A. B. 6. 




C. 


D. 


4. 




C. D. 4. 



A. forces best trump and remains with thirteenth 
to bring in his long diamond. A. played well 
(trick 10), passing the club. Eemaining tricks A. 
makes, and A. and B. score three by cards. 



Hand I. — Overplay. 
Hands have been given. 
Score, A. B. 0; C. D. 0. 2 of Sp. turned. 



1. 








2. 




A. 9d. 








D.2c. 




O. 10 d. 








A. 3 c. 




B. qu. d. 








C. qu. c. 




D. ace d. 


A. 


B. 


0. 


B. 4 c. 


A. B. 0. 




C. 


D. 


1. 




C. D. 2. 



The proper lead is the 9, holding k. and kn. 
C. having 10 and but two more, plays it upon the 9. 



Examples and Overplay. 211 



3. 








4. 


C. 10 c. 








A. kn. d. 


B. kn. c. 








0.44 


D. k. c. 








B. 5 4 


A. ace c. 


A. B. 


1. 


D. 3. A. B. 2. 




C. 


D. 


2. 


C. D. 2. 



C. has no game to play for himself, and if he 
had, it is proper to return his partners lead, hold- 
ing 10 and 9. It proves to be the play of the 
hand. A.'s k. and kn. of diamonds are equal cards. 



5. 








6. 




A 3 s. 








B. 7 s. 




C. 4 s. 








D. 8 s. 




B. k. s. 








A. 10 s. 




D. 2 s. 


A. 


B. 


3. 


C. ace s. 


A. B. 3. 




C. 


D. 


2. 




C. D. 3. 



A., having four trumps, and k. of diamonds and 
ace of hearts for re-entry, chooses to play trump. 
He has noted that no call has been made. 



7. 








8. 




C. 9 c. 








C. 2h. 




B. 5 h. 








B. 4h. 




D. 5 c. 








D. 6 h. 




A. 6 c. 


A. 


B. 


3. 


A. ace h. 


A. B. 4 




C. 


D. 


4. 




CD. 4 



212 American Whist. 

C. makes the best club. B. (trick 7) plaj's 5 h. 
that he may after throw the 4, apprising his part- 
ner of strength in the suit. A. leading trumps 
(trick 5), B. knows A. has four, perhaps five. He 
hopes that A. will play trump and then a heart. 



9. 


10. 




A. qu. s. 


A. k d. 




C. 6 s. 


C. 6d. 




B. 7d. 


B. 8d. 




D. 9 s. A. B. 5. 


D. kn. s. 


A B. 5. 


C. D. 4. 




C. D. 5. 



A. plays spade to draw two for one, but the kn. 
and 9 cannot both fall. 

11. 

D. 8 c. 

A. 7 c. 
C. 8h. 

B. 9. h. A. B. 5. A. B. make the odd card. 

C. D. 6. 



We will play one variation, supposing A. to 
have led k. d. instead of the trump at trick 5. It 
will still be seen, however, that C.'s play of the 
10 c. was the play of the hand. 



Examples and Overplay. 213 



5. 


6. 




A. k. d. 


D. 5 c. 




C.6d. 


A. 6 c: 




B.7d. 


0. 9 c. 




D. 2 s. A. B. 2. 


B. 7 s. 


A. B. 3. 


C. D. 3. 




C D. 3. 


7. 


8. 




B. k. h. 


A7c. 




D. 3h. 


0.8k 




A. ace h. 


B. k. s. 




C. 2 h. A. B. 4 


D. 8 c. 


A. B. 5. 


CD. 3 




C D. 3. 


9. 


10. 




B. qu. h. 


B. 9h. 




D. 6h. 


D 7h. 




A. 2d. 


A. 3 s. 




C. 10 L A. B. 6. 


C kn. h. 


A. B. 7. 


CD. 3. 




C D. 3. 


11. 


12. 




A. 5 s. 


D. 9 s. 




C 6 s. 


A. 10 s. 


x 


B.4L 


C ace s. 




D. 8 s. A. B. 7. 


B. 5h. 


A. B. 7. 


C D. 4. 




C D. 5. 



A. makes the last trick with qu., and A. and B. 
score two by cards. 



214 



American Whist. 



Hand XXXVIII of Cavendish. 

"Cavendish," Laws and Principles, p. 253. 

This hand is played to illustrate the grand coup 
and will repay study. The hands are : — 



A. 


C. 


B. 




D. 


S. 9, 7, 5, 4. 


ace, kn., 6. 


qu., 10, 8 




k., 3, 2. 


H. 9, 7. 


5. 4. 


ace,qu.,10, 6 


k.,kn.,8, 3,2. 


C. qu., 6. 


4, 3, 2. 


ace,k.,kn 


.,8. 


10, 9, 7, 5. 


D. 10, 7, 6, 4, 2. 


qu.,kn.,9, 8,5. 


ace, 3. 




k. 


Score, A. E 


\. 6. C. D. 6 


. 8 of hearts turned up 


1. 




2. 




A.4d. 




B. 6h. 




• C. 5 d. 




D.2h. 




B. ace d. 




A7h. 




D. k. d. 


A. B. 1. 


C. 4h. 


A. B. 2. 




C. D. 0. 




C. D. 0. 


3. 




4. 




A. 9 k 




B. k. c. 




C. 5 h. 




D. 5 c. 




B. ace h. 




A. 6 c. 




D. 3h. 


A. B. 3. 


C. 2 c. 


A. B. 4. 




C. D. 0. 




C. 


D. 0. 



Trick 3. A. and C. have no more trumps and 
D. knows that qu., 10, are in B.'s hand. 



Examples and Overplay. 215 



5. 






6. 


B. ace c. 






B. kn. c. 


D. 7 c. 






D. 9 c. 


A. qu. c. 






A. 4 s. 


C. 3 c. 


A. 


B. 5. 


C. 4 c. A. B. 6. 




C. 


D. 0. 


C. D. 0. 



7. 



b. 3 a. 




C. qu. d. 


D. 2 s. 




B. 8 c. 


A. 10 d. 




D. k. s. 


C. kn. d. 


A. B. 6. 


A. 2 d. A. B. 6. 




CD. 1 


C. D. 2. 



D. throws k. s. instead of the 3 for this reason. 
If D. has the lead at the tenth trick he must lose 
a trick in trumps and the game. C. must have 
ace of spades to take when D. leads or the game 
is lost. 

9. 10. 



C. 9 4 




D. 3 s. 




B. 8 s. 




A. 5 s. 




D. 8 k 




G. ace s. 




A. 6 4 


A. B. 6. 


B. 10 s. 


A. B. 6. 




C. D. 3. 




C. D. 4. 



216 American Whist. 

, r 

D.'s play 8 h. in trick 9 is the grand coup. 
11. 

Tricks 12 and 13, D. 
must make his two 
trumps, and 0. and D. 
win the odd trick. 

B. refuses to trump winning cards. He holds 
the tenace and expects to be led up to and so to 
make the odd trick. 



C. 8 d. 




B. qu. s. 
D. 10 c. 




A. 7d. 


A. B. 6. 




C. D. 5. 



Grand coups and any other style of show-work 
in cards can be arranged by placing the cards, and 
then causing them to be played to order. It will 
be seen that B.'s cards are played as badly as they 
could be. In the first place, he should not have 
led trumps ; in the second, he should not have 
taken the third trick ; in the third, he should have 
continued his club suit; and in the fourth, he 
should have trumped the diamond. But it is use- 
less to comment upon' such absurd play on his 
part : the manner of making the coup by D., be- 
cause B. gave him all the chances for making it, 
is commendable, and serves as a lesson to those 
who would learn, that cards of seeming worth can 
be thrown away for a purpose. 



Examples and Overplay. 217 



Hand XXXVIII. — Overplay. 

The score and hands have been given. We will 
play B.'s hand as it should have been played, show- 
ing a different result, let C. and D. do what they 
may. 



1. 






2. 


A. 4d. 






B. k. c. 


C, 5d. 






D. 7 c. 


B. ace d. 






A. 6 c. 


D. k. d. 


A. 


B. 1. 


C. 2 c. A. B. 2. 




C. 


D.O. 


C. D. 0. 



B. sees that A. and C. have the diamonds, but 
knows A. has not tierce to qu., or he would have 
led qu., nor is he strong in trumps, or with many 
diamonds he would have led a trump. Noting the 
score, B. reserves his own trumps of which he holds 
double tenace. 



3. 








4. 


B. ace c. 








B. kn. c. 


D. 5 c. 








D. 9 c. 


A. qu. c. 








A. 4 s. 


C. 3 c. 


A. 


B. 


3. 


C. 4 c. A. B. 4. 




C. 


D. 


0. 


C. D. 0. 



D. has called for trumps, but B. continues his 
suit. 



218 American Whist. 



5. 








6. 




B.8e. 








A. 5 s. 




D. 10 c. 








C. kn. s. 




A.7h. 








B. qu. s. 




C. 6 s. 


A. 


B. 


5. 


D. k. s. 


A. B. 5. 




C. 


D. 


0. 




C. D. 1. 



With A., the 7 and the 9 of hearts are equal 
cards. He knows his partner is striving for the 
odd card and does not continue his diamond lead 
of which he knows C. to hold qu. 



7. 








8. 


D. 3h. 








A. 7 s. 


A. 9h. 








C. ace s. 


C. 4h. 








B. 8 s. 


B. 6h. 


A. 


B. 


6. 


D. 2 s. A. B. 6. 




C. 


D. 


1. 


C. D. 2. 



It makes no difference as to the play of C. and 
D. A. and B. make 2 by cards. 



"CAVENDISH." 



"Laws and Pkinciples of Whist." 

To this writer more than to any and all others 
are we indebted for information and direction con- 
cerning the modern game of whist. He cannot as- 
sure us that his system is certainly right and all 
others certainly wrong. " The problem is too intri- 
cate to admit of being treated with mathematical 
precision. The conclusion, that the chances are in 
favor of a certain line of play, is not arrived at by 
abstract calculation, but by general reasoning con- 
firmed by the accumulated experience of practised 
players. The student must frequently be satisfied 
if the reasons given appear weighty in themselves, 
and none weightier can be suggested." The reasons 
for specified play, as given by " Cavendish," are 
the best of which English players may know, since 
their accepted game is one of chance and skill, and 
not of skill and chance, and he is received as au- 
thority. It is when reasons weightier than his own, 



2 2 o A merican Whist. 

as applicable to a greater game than his, can be 
suggested, that we care to consider them in contra- 
distinction to his teaching ; and when these are 
presented, it is with the desire which " Cavendish" 
himself had, to better old-time custom that we im- 
prove upon his patent. He says : — 

1. "Lead originally from your strongesi 
Suit." That is, the longest or strongest or both 
in one. This is accepted in the general as one 
of the most important of the rules. The order 
of leads will explain which card of one of four, 
or five, or six, to lead. The two hands of the two 
partners are to be made to assist each other, or, 
so to speak, to be combined, that is, played for 
each other, so that each can depend upon the 
other to assist in the making of tricks. Partners 
are to act for each other. The first lead that is 
made after the trump card is turned, is usually 
most significant. Of course but one card has 
been exposed. The leader has no knowledge 
where is to be found any other card -or cards. 
He must tell his partner as much as he can of 
his own hand, then carefully observe the play. 

2. "Lead the highest of a head sequence." 
This rule is subject to change, more in England 
than in America. It will be observed that, having 
k., qu., kn., and 10, we always play the k. " Caven- 



Cavendish." 221 



dish" throws 10 to call ace from his partner, if he 
has it. We play k. ; if partner has ace and two 
more, he plays small one; if but one more, he takes 
with ace, and returns small one at proper time. 

3. " Lead the highest of a numerically weak 
suit." Our rule is, lead the .highest of three, other 
than ace, k., and qu., the lowest of four cards, the 
penultimate of five cards, and the antepenultimate 
of six. 

4. " Avoid changing suits." The chapter under 
this head in "Cavendish" is necessarily full of 
contradictions, and we set it all aside. The good 
player will change suits as often as he sees cause 
for so doing, and his partner must be attentive to 
his action. 

5. " Return the lowest of a strong suit, the 
highest of a weak suit." That depends upon cir- 
cumstances. If you have taken with kn., and hold 
k., qu., and others, play k. And it is sometimes a 
question whether the lowest, or next to the lowest, 
of a strong suit should be returned. 

6. "Play your lowest card second hand." 
Provided, first, that you have not a sequence, in 
which case play lowest of same ; second, that you 
do not want trumps led by your partner, in which 
case you play an unnecessarily high card, to be 
followed by one lower (i. e., the 4 and after, the 2 ; 



222 A merican Whist. 

instead of the 2 and after, the 4) ; and third, if a 9 
be not led, in which case cover with a 10 or queen. 
When a knave is led, cover with ace, if you have 
it, and have not k. with the ace. 

7. " Play the lowest of a sequence." This has 
reference to a follow, not a lead. Play the lowest, 
if desirable to play any member of it. 

8. " Play your highest card third hand." You 
will not play ace on partner's queen, nor queen, if 
your only high card, on partner's 10. Holding 
ace, qu., and the card led is below the 10, play 
queen and after, ace, unless the 9 is led when 
having only ace, qu., take with ace and return qu. 

9. " Keep command of your adversaries' suit," 
and 

10. " Get rid of the command of your part- 
ner's suit." By all means obey these rules. 

11. "Discard from your weakest suit." If 
your partner leads or has taken the trick on which 
you play, when the cards are running against you, 
and you have a card of re-entry, and may be able 
to lead from what is a weak suit to your partner's 
advantage, throw away such other card as you 
deem best to part with. When the opponents' 
trumps are largely against you, discard from your 
strongest suit. 

12. " Afford information by your play." Every 



11 Cavendish." 223 

card, as it is played at the proper time, speaks. 
The king led says : the ace or the qu. is here. The 
9 led says : the k. and kn. are here. The 2 led 
says: there is nothing here of value. The k. 
played second hand says: the ace is here, or I 
am alone or (in trumps) : there is but one small 
one here. The 9 played second says : I am the 
lowest of a sequence, or, I commence the call for 
trumps, or, I am the only card of the suit. The 
2 played second says : this hand does not want, or 
cannot properly take, the card played, and does 
not want trumps led. A trick is always taken, if 
taken at all, by fourth hand as cheaply as possible. 
Having kn. and 10, take with the 10, for the play 
of the kn. says : I have not the 10. 

13. " Lead trumps when very strong in them." 
This depends upon the state of the hand, the score, 
whether you want to receive assistance from your 
partner, and where you would like to place the 
lead. It is not alone a proper reason, because you 
have a certain number of trumps, that you must 
play them. Trumps are to be managed differently 
from plain suits. In the " Cavendish " game it is 
more proper that a lead from five trumps should 
always be made than in American Whist. The 
English game counts but five points, and two or 
four of those can be, and often are, made by " hon- 



224 ^ merican Whist. 

ors." We have seven points, and all to make by 
card, so that there should be a reason for leading 
from five trumps, as neither the leader nor the 
partner having high cards, the getting out of 
trumps may be the playing of the opponents' 
game. If you have five small trumps and a short 
suit, they may be of much service. 

14. " DO NOT TRUMP A DOUBTFUL CARD IF STRONG 

IN trumps." That is, pass a card at second hand if 
probably your partner can take it. You thus show 
him that you have many or good trumps. The 
rule is, having few trumps take with them all that 
you can, and whenever you can ; having many, pass 
the card to your partner that you may use your 
strength to advantage. 

15. " Force a strong trump hand of the ad- 
versary." This is a good rule, for it makes use of 
his trumps less to your detriment than if he drew 
one from you and from your partner. 

16. "DO NOT FORCE YOUR PARTNER IF YOU ARE 

weak in trumps." This is at once a proper and 
an improper rule. The business of the partner is 
to take tricks, and if he can trump a card led by 
you for that purpose, it makes no difference whether 
you have or have not strength in trumps. If he 
is a good partner he will not be forced to his in- 
jury. [See chapter on Trumps.} 



Cavendish? 225 



17. "Play to the score/' and 

18. " Watch the fall of the cards and draw 
your inferences at the time." The score in Short 
Whist is a matter of great difference from ours, 
and the manner in which it is made, compels us to 
qualify the meaning of any rule that applies to it. 
If a man playing Short Whist is at 3 and holds 
three "honors," or holds two, his partner having 
turned one, he has no game to play, but only to 
hinder others from playing profitably. If one party 
are at 1, either partner or both together may hold 
four " honors," and the game is theirs already, if 
the other party have nothing, or if they have but 
one point. Short Whist is of no more account 
than any other short game to parties who are 
playing for money. The sooner the play is over 
the better, that the stakes may be paid, not 
that a victory may be fairly won. It is not in the 
same sense that we urge the adoption of the rule. 
Play to the score, that your good play may count. 
Eemember that you must work for every point 
you gain. In American Whist there is no mum- 
mery of " honors." If you have five or six points, 
play with all shrewdness and caution, or, it may 
be, with all daring and abandon, for the last one 
or two points. Of one thing you are sure, your 
good work cannot be frustrated by the exhibition 

15 



226 American Whist. 

of a picture or two held by accident, and whose 
influence is outgeneralled. To watch the fall of 
the cards and to draw inferences are distinct char- 
acteristics of the good whist-player. If your part- 
ner leads a king you at once infer that he has ace 
or qu., perhaps both, perhaps a knave. If second 
hand plays 10 you infer he has kn. or no more, or 
wants trumps, and has but one card more of the 
suit. If your partner or fourth hand wins a trick, 
the highest card of which is the 10, with a king, 
you infer he has not qu. or kn. [See Inferences. 
Also see y under " Whist Practice" many rules hav- 
ing reference to play at different stages of the game.] 

Inferences drawn as the game proceeds induce 
the best of play. Partners inform by the cards of 
many situations and relations, and good players 
remember and make use of the information. 

" Cavendish " tells us : — 

"There is no whist principle which should not be 
occasionally violated, owing to the knowledge of the 
hands derived from inference during the play." 

We never violate a principle. We change our 
tactics as we deem proper to do on occasion, and 
reserve the right to do so under any condition. 
Leading from strongest or from weakest suit, treat- 
ing long suits like short ones, and vice versa, refus- 



Cavendish? 227 



ing to win the second round of a suit, declining to 
draw the losing trump, throwing high cards to place 
the lead, getting rid of a surplus trump for a pur- 
pose, refusing to overtrump, trumping partners 
trick in place of a discard, and any other coup 
or grand coup, are nothing more nor less than 
dispositions of good players manifested because of 
the ability to take the rule into their own hands 
without interfering with the right of opponents, 
and without deceiving their partners, in the up- 
holding of principle to the elicitation of the best 
solutions of the mysteries of the game. 

" Cavendish," at the close of his historical sketch, 
adds a few words of credit for his friends " J. C ." 
and Dr. Pole, and of his own book declares, " How 
far it has fulfilled the conditions of its being, it is 
not for the author to say." But we may say ever 
so proudly, as we recur again and again to his mas- 
terly analysis of whist, that apart from the neces- 
sity which seems to exist for adapting his ideas to 
the conventional standard of a contracted practice, 
he has produced the best contribution to whist lit- 
erature extant, so complete in the main essentials 
of the game that all who follow him are borrowers 
of the tenor of his instructions, if not of the lan- 
guage in which he pertinently states them. 



228 A merican Whist. 

For those persons who think that after a few 
high cards are played in the early part of the hand, 
the rest are of no avail and may fall as they please; 
as well as for those who would study the intricacies 
of play, we copy the excellent examples which give 
information of cases that occur in practice in which 
playing to the board is involved. 



A. 9, 4, 3, 2 clubs. 

C. ace, qu., kn., 5 clubs. 

B. k., 8, 7 clubs, 8 spades. 

D. 9 d., 6 clubs, 9, 7 spades. 

Spades trumps. C. and D. must have all the 
tricks to save the game. A.'s lead. 



1. 


2. 


3. 


A. 2, c. 


C. qu., c. 


D. 9 s. 


C. ace. 


B. k. 




B. 7. 


D. 7 s. 




D. 6. 


A. 3 c. 





C. plays ace of c, not kn., 'second, the only sure 
play, D. trumps next trick with 7 and draws last 
trump with 9, making his diamond. 



11 Cavendish? 229 



II. 

A. qu, 8 sp., 2 h. 

C. 7 sp, 7 h, 10 d. 

B. 9 sp, kn, 7 d. 

D. kn, 10, 3 sp. 

Hearts trumps. A, B. want two tricks to save 
the game. A. knows 0. holds best trump and B. 
best diamond and a low spade. 



1. 


2. 


A. qu. s. 


A. 2h. 


C. 7 s. 


C. 7h. 


B. 9 s. 


B. 7d. 


D. 3 s. 


D. 10 s. 



A. leads qu. of spades, and then the losing trump. 
B.'s diamond must make. 

III. 

A. qu, 10 s. kn, 7 h. 

C. kn, 3 s. k, 9 h. 

B. kn. c. kn, 10, 4 d. 

D. 6 s. 7 c. 5, 2 d. 

Spades trumps. *C. knows A. has two hearts, 
and qu, 10 spades, and that D. has small spade. 
C, D. want three tricks. 



230 American Whist 



1. 


2. 


A. 7 h. 


C. 9h. 


C. k. h. 


B. 10 d. 


B. 4 d. 


C. 6 s. 


D. 7 c. 


A. kn. h. 



C. putting on k. hearts second although 9 would 
have taken, relieves his partner from trumping C.'s 
best heart to get the lead through the spades in 
A's hand. 

IV. 

It is never right to over-trump when three cards 
remain in each hand and one player holds second 
and third best trumps with one of which he trumps 

card led. 

A. 8, 7 h., 3 s. 

C. 10 h, 9, 4 d. 

B. 9, 8 s, kn. c. 

D. k. 6 s., ace d. 

The position of the trumps, spades, is known. 
A. leads a heart, B. trumps it. If D. over-trumps 
he loses the other tricks, if he throws ace d. he 
wins them. 

V. 

When you are left at the end of a hand with 
the tenace in trumps (best and third best, or sec- 



" Cavendish? 231 



ond best guarded), over right-hand player and two 
other cards both of the suit led by him, always 
throw the highest to his lead. 

A. k., 7 h., ace, 6 c. 

C. ace, 10 h., 9, 5 c. 

B. kn. c. qu., 8, 6 i 

D. k, qu., 8, 3 c. 

Hearts trumps. A. leads ace of clubs. C. should 
play 9, for D. might play carelessly and let C. take 
next trick. C. should make it a necessity for D, 
to take it, that D. might lead up to C.'s tenace. 



VI. 




A. has k, 10, s. 


ace, 4, d. 


C. has ace, kn., s. 


k., 2, d. 



Spades, trumps. A. plays ace, d. C. should 
throw k. He can take but two tricks at any rate, 
and should see that he cannot. Also, that if his 
partner had higher diamond than A. next led, C. 
D. would make three tricks. 



VII. 




A. has kn., 10, 8, 7, c. 




C. has k, 5, 3, 2, c. 




B. has 9, 6, c. 


10, 8, h. 


D. has ace, qu., c. 


qu., 9, h. 



232 A merican Whist. 

C, D. must have every trick ; hearts, trumps. It 
is known that the trumps are held by B. and D. 

1. 2. 

A., kn., c. D., qu., c. 

Q, 2, c. A., 7, c. 

B., 6, c. C, k, c. 

D., ace, c. B., 9, c. 

D. takes the trick with ace, and returns qu. C, 
seeing his partner's anxiety to get rid of the lead, 
takes the trick with the k., and thus secures to D. 
the tenace. 

VIII. 
The grand coup consists in throwing away a 
superfluous trump. 

A. has 8, 6, s. 10, 9, d. 

C. has qu., s. 6 c. 5, 3, h. 

B. has 5, 3, d. 10, 7, e 

D. has kn., 9, 5, c. kn. h. 

•. _ 

Clubs, trumps. D. ^knows that B. has 10 and 
another trump. 

1. 2. 

A., 10, d. C, qu., s. 

C, 6, c. B., 5, d. 

B., 3, d. D., kn., h. 

D., 5, c. A, 9, d. 



" Cavendish!' 233 



D. throws away the 5 of trumps, and secures all 
the tricks. Had he played kn., h. on first trick, and 
B. refused to trump qu. spades, D. must have lost 
a trick. 

IX. 

Grand coup already played, followed by good 
play. It may happen that more must be done than 
to sacrifice the trump to save a trick or game. 
Hearts, trumps. B. has thrown away his super- 
fluous trump. 

A. has 8, c. k., 7, 6, d. 

0. ^ 5, c. kn., d. kn., 5, h. 

B. ace, 5, d. qu., 6, h. 
D. qu„ 10, 9, 8,d. 

A. and B. must have all the tricks. 

1. 2. 

A., 8, c. A., k, d. 

C, 5. c. C, kn., d. 

B., ace, d. B., 5, d. 

D., 8, d. D., 9, d. 

B. can gain nothing by retaining the ace of 
diamonds, and trusts to his partner having the 
highest to take the second trick. 



234 American Whist. 



X. 

Grand coup. Hearts, trumps. It is known that 

B. has k., qu., and kn., and a losing spade or club, 
uncertain which. C, D. must have one trick of 
the four. 

A.haskn., 10, 8,7,d. 

C. 9, 6, 5, d. 7, c. 

B. k., qu., kn., h. 8, s. 

D. qu., c. 5, 4, h. qu., s. 

1. 2. 

A., kn., d. B., qu., h. 

C, 5, d. D., 5, h. 

B, kn., h. A, 7, d. 

D., 4, h. C, 7, c. 

D.'s trumps were good for nothing. He throws 
one away, and waits for his partner's discard to 
know if B. has the small spade or club. He takes 
the last trick with qu. s. 

Appendixes A. and B. in " Cavendish " name the 
reasons for the invention of the penultimate lead, 
and the specification of the number of trumps by 
the ingenious echo. Both advantages are appre- 
ciated by the American game, and all credit given 
to their English inventor and expositor. The 



" Cavendish? 235 



plan and object of both are described in appropriate 
places in this volume. 

With reference to " Decisions " in " Cavendish," 
as in all the English books, we are only able to say- 
that as our laws afford no opportunity for misun- 
derstanding or dissatisfaction, we have no reason 
for dissension, and no occasion for appeal. 



"Card Essays, Clay's Decisions, and Card 
Table Talk," 

Is the title of the last book edited or compiled by 
" Cavendish." In the first chapter Whist versus 
Chess is considered. His argument is that at chess 
the moves are suggested by the application of 
analysis based on inspection, while at whist the 
play results from exercise of judgment based on 
observation and inference. He quotes Clay's at- 
testation to the perfectness of whist, had the hon- 
ors been divided in the reckoning, while the 
advantage of skill would be so great as to limit 
considerably the number of players. It is chance 
upon which to take the risk that makes the excite- 
ment for an English player. If he had to trust to 
skill in play of all the cards, the game would not 
be swift enough to satisfy the inordinate craving 



236 American Whist. 

for hazard. Cards must be held, if not used, that 
denote points ; then, against skill, fortune may win. 

In a long article, " Cavendish " would inform 
of the " Morality of card-playing." Card-playing 
in its innocency needs no defence, and the heading 
to his chapter had best be "On the morality of 
gambling in card-playing." This proposition he 
proposes to espouse, and endeavors to show that 
absolute morals indorse gaming if the party who 
must play for something to establish the interest 
felt, can pecuniarily afford to do so. 

Bibliographers and etymologists will find matter 
of interest in the next two papers, and the lover 
of Piquet will read the descriptive article upon 
that game. " Clay's Decisions " may be agreed to 
or quarreled with, as shall please the fancy of Eng- 
lish amateurs or professionals. 

Lord Henry Bentinck appears to have been the 
god of the " Cavendish " high holiday, and * Caven- 
dish " stood in lofty awe of him. Quite a number 
of anecdotes of less than mediocre value, are re- 
corded with an unction that would become the 
recital of sayings of an illustrious man. 

" Card Table Talk " is anecdotical. As a whole 
it is puerile. The instances in which book-play is 
disregarded and common sense used in the disposal 
of the cards, enliven it somewhat, but the general 



" Cavendish? 237 



discomfort of contestants, the exhibition of ill 
humor at the table, and dissatisfaction with the 
course of opponents, rob the stories of interest 
for men who meet as friends in a manly game, who 
play as friends, creditably exercising their faculties 
to achieve temporary success, and who part as 
friends, having shared the pleasure that intellectual 
recreation affords. 



"J. C." 



" A treatise on Short Whist, by James Clay," 
was published in England in 1864. During the 
spring of the previous year, Mr. Clay was reported 
to have acted as chairman of a committee appointed 
to revise the laws of Short Whist, or to act upon a 
series of rules presented by Mr. John Loraine Bald- 
win for adoption. Of these rules we only say here, 
that some seven or eight sensible men subscribed 
to them. 

" J. C." presents the old game as dead, and the 
new one in full life and vigor. He thinks that the 
honors should have been divided, as well as the 
number of tricks, allowing four honors to count 
two points, and three honors to count one point. 
Then, as he says, the game would be perfect. He 
recommends talking over the hand after it has 
been played, and the watching the play of expe- 
rienced men. Many of his maxims are worthy the 
most careful attention. He prefaces $hese with 
the opinion, — 



«% C" 239 

"That although the following rules may occasion- 
ally speak of things to be never done, and others to 
be always done, the student must remember that no 
rules are without exception, and few more open to 
exceptional cases than rules for whist." 

His advice is given very fairly and freely, and 
while desirous that would-be or practiced players 
should possess and study his volume, we cull for 
our criticism certain statements made therein, 
which do not harmonize with our conduct in 
play. He, in common with- several others, who 
seem to distrust their companions, advises — 

" avoidance of getting into any particular habit of sort- 
ing your cards, such as always putting trumps in the 
same place, &c. Players of no great delicacy may 
easily gain from your peculiarities some indication of 
your strength, and even the most loyal may find diffi- 
culty in not noticing them and being somewhat influ- 
enced by the information which they have unintention- 
ally acquired." 

That is a most ingenious employment of words, 
at once to hide and to expose the contemptibility 
of espionage. Your cards, as sorted into your hand, 
should, in colors, be at odds with each other, and 
the trumps should always occupy the same position, 
say the second suit on the right. Whenever you 
discover that you, a gentleman, are playing whist 



240 American Whist. 

at a table with people who are ferreting out the 
cards in your hand, instead of properly playing 
their own, you had best leave that table and that 
company. 

" I have laid down a rule — it is no invention of 
mine, hut is given, I think, in the old works of Hoyle, 
or Matthews, or both, and was decided to be right after 
some controversy among the chief Graham's players 
many years ago — that with a tierce to a king in any 
suit, it is only right to commence with the knave when 
you hold at least five of the suit. Nothing, however, 
is more common, even among very fair players, than to 
commence with the knave, holding this tierce alone, or 
with one other card only. It is a grave error, and I 
refuse to consider any man, whoever he may be, a fine 
whist-player who commits it. He has not understood 
the immense advantage which it is to me, not in that 
suit only, but ranging over the whole of the hand, to 
know, as if I saw it, that when he commences a tierce 
to a king with the knave, he has at least five cards in 
the suit." 

This rule, together with that which directs the 
play of the kn. as a lead in trumps when k. 10 
and others are held, is adopted by the best players. 
They, who will not remember such special plays, 
practice the lead of the head of the sequence, and 
of the lower trump, [pp. 46, 53.] 

" If you have omitted to notice how the cards fell to 
a trick, ask that they be placed." 



"7. C" 241 

Whose fault was it that you did not notice how 
they fell ? Who should be punished ? Whose time 
have you a right to take, disturbing calculations ? 
You may point to a single card on the table, and 
he who played it must draw it toward him ; but 
even this proceeding on your part should rarely 
happen. 

"Do not force your partner, unless you hold four 
trumps, one of them being an honor, or unless," &c, 
&c. 

Force your partner whenever he can take a trick, 
and you know that you need it. If he does not 
choose to trump, knowing his strength, he will dis- 
card, throw the lead, and gain his advantage. 

"Let the first card you throw away be from your 
weakest suit." 

On your partner's trick the discard is the small- 
est card of the weakest suit. Inferences must be 
read when different play is made. Let the discard 
be from your best suit, if trumps are declared 
against you. 

" Never play false cards. The habit, to which there 
are many temptations, of trying to deceive your adver- 
saries as to the state of your hand deceives your part- 
ner as well and destroys his confidence in you. A 

16 



242 American Whist. 

golden maxim for whist is that it is of more importance 
to inform your partner than to deceive your adversary. 
The best whist-player is he who plays the game in the 
simplest and most intelligible way." 

These are good sentences and full of meaning. 
ft oftentimes happens that a player upon taking up 
his hand anticipates the play to its conclusion. He 
wants from his partner a certain card or cards, and 
the needed point is made. Failing in that, if he can 
have the lead from his left or can force his right- 
hand adversary who has turned the k., he is sure. 
What might be called false cards are now leaders, 
and have their mission. There is independence in 
the play of whist as well as dependence. The 
game properly played by A. consists in the fact 
that A. plays B.'s hand as well as his own. It 
requires that 0. should play D.'s hand as well as 
his own. It asks of B. and D. that they should 
respectively play A/s and C/s hands. That is, 
there is mutuality of action between the players 
who are partners. But A. takes up a hand which 
he proposes to play. He has one, two, three points 
to make, and he proposes to make them. His part- 
ner must give room for him to act, and keep the 
track of his performance. It is not of the slightest 
consequence to A. whether his opponents follow 
him or not. Herein the game of whist in proper 



"7. cr 243 

hands obeys the law of orderly judgment, the books 
become the alphabets, the brains the volumes, of 
information. Suits are changed as often as A. sees 
fit to change them, his partner or adversary forced 
according as he predicts his gain ; on his opponent's 
lead he throws what pleases him to play, and some 
life is infused into a game that might plod on in 
strictest conformity with the dullest of routine. 
The best whist-player is he who plays the game 
understandingly, honorably, and brilliantly. 

"A lead from qu., kn., and one small card, or kn., 
10, and one small card, is not bad when you have no 
better suit." 

Whether it is "bad" or not, if you have no 
better suit, you must make it. But it oftentimes 
happens that the lead is proper and by no means 
bad when you have a better suit. We have seen 
many a game thrown away by silly devotion to 
book-rule. A graduate from a Short Whist Club 

was playing in the A. club-room not long 

since, and the score stood 6 to 6. Qu. of spades 
turned on his right. He took up his hand, k., 
qu., 7, 5, 3, hearts, kn., 10, 6, clubs, ace, qu. d., 
k., and two small spades. He instantly threw k. 
of hearts because the book said so, and lost the 
odd trick, as he deserved to do. He should have 



244 American Whist 

seen the possibility of his making both k. and qu. t 
and even of the 10 of clubs. Had he played kn. 
of c. as he should have done, he — for his partner 
had two tricks — would have won the game. But 
the book men at his club would have never for- 
given any other lead than one from the five, "to 
inform his partner " that he had more of that suit 
than of any other. He threw away his best card 
to please a rule. It does not always follow that 
the best suit should be played either at the begin- 
ning or at certain other stages of the game. That 
is where judgment is to be exercised. Whist is 
played by method, but not by machinery. 

"The lead from k., kn., 10, and others is excep- 
tional. It is the only case of leading a middle card, 
and the practice is to lead the 10." 

Because it has been the only case of a middle 
card lead, the game that the English play is faulty. 
In advance of any lead is that of the 9, which 
designates k. and kn. " J. 0." could not, at the 
time of the printing of his book, give his adhesion 
to the doctrine of the penultimate, but he did so in 
a short time thereafter. He remembered business 
of the older schools, and how the Parisians, with 
Deschapelles at their head, created a system oi 
their own, and how that system drove away the old 



. "7- cr 245 

beliefs. Long-suit leading as a principle in prac- 
tice, and signalling conversation, were of the Eng- 
lish plan, but daring trump-leading on occasion^ 
and the method, in part, of mutual dependence 
adopted by the French and incorporated into the 
game that the English played, made that English 
game a success. Afterward came the call and 
echo, the discard of the second best, and the order 
of the leads. Now we take their game where they 
are content to leave it, and where for their pur- 
poses of speed and excitement it answers well 
enough. They claim the credit of having robbed 
the original of half its fine proportions, and hon- 
estly give their reasons for delight in the change. 

We are not fearful that because of discussion 
there will be diminution of interest on the part ot 
good players in the best features of the regular 
game. "Cavendish" and others were indebted to 
Hoyle and others for their information concerning 
whist. They made improvements upon their mas- 
ter's work. We follow their example in such re- 
gard, and in turn rejecting what is unsuited to our 
atmosphere, reform what we deem unworthy and 
accept their wisest conclusions. We Americanize 
whist and make of it a better and more interesting 
game. 

u J. C." finds it difficult to give an accurate defi* 



246 American Whist. 

nition in a small compass of the rival systems of 
Paris and London. He admits that^lie brilliant 
play of Deschapelles disconcerted alike the wise- 
acres and the erudite players of England. Id 
France the game must be, in common with all 
manner of entertainment, a rapid thing, and so the 
honors must have place. Cut off these excrescen- 
ces, and the "rash attack" which "J. C." calls 
the French opening, preferring the same to an 
over-cautious defence, corresponds with independ- 
ent action in American Whist. He gives an ex- 
ample : — 

" The game is at its beginning, and a small card has 
been turned up. I hold the queen, knave, and two 
small trumps, tierce to a kn. and a small card on the 
second suit, queen, kn., and a small card in the third, 
and a guarded k. in the fourth. With this, which is 
not very great strength, or with any hand of a similar 
character, I believe it so important to find out whether 
my partner has a third honor, and whether, conse- 
quently, I may play to win the game, that I unhesitat- 
ingly lead a small trump. (They call this playing 
whist in London.) If I find him very weak, I have 
no doubt played to a disadvantage, and must change 
my attack to defence, making the best of my hand, 
which would probably have been more profitably com- 
menced by the knave from my tierce. But if my 
partner has an honor and a trump to return to me, 



"7 C" 247 

with only one strong suit to which he by the card 
that he throws to my third round of trumps and the 
adversary by his lead will direct me, we shall probably 
win the game, or at least, be very close to it. The 
player of the old school would have opened the hand 
with a tierce to the knave as exposing him to the least 
danger." 

Now any man who will, may see the great advan- 
tage of American Whist over either school that 
speculates upon the luck of an " honor." " J. C." 
holds two pictures in trumps, and is instantly 
desirous to ascertain if his partner has another. 
What has that to do with playing whist ? It is 
about equal to matching cards in " Old Maid " in 
the hope of finding out where the odd queen is. 
If he and his partner have been dealt three cer- 
tain cards, though two of them are compelled to 
fall upon the opponent's ace or king, the claim of 
" two by honor " is set up and stands as fair as the 
gain made by the ingenious calculation which, 
despite that fortune, has made the odd card ! 
With us, a good player, taking up the hand speci- 
fied by "J. 0.," does not play a trump, because he 
has no hand to warrant such a course. He throws 
the kn. in the second suit, or, it may be, not fear- 
ing the criticism of Lord Harry Bentinck, et al, 
the queen in the third. There is nothing to ex- 



248 American Whist. 

pect from his hand, and he so tells his partner, and 
that he is ready to play for him. If his partner 
possesses the strength of which " J. 0." speaks, 
such assistance as A. can render will be given, 
and the two or three by card which " J. 0." pro- 
phesied, can be made. But to attain the result 
how much more desirable and interesting the 
whole play of the hand for points alone ! 

"tT. C.V comments upon and against the play 
of false cards are about balanced in quantity and 
quality by his comments upon and in favor of 
them. He abhors them, but he tolerates them ; he 
denies your right to play them, but if you win for 
him, there can be excuse found for their existence. 
To just such argument all positive book-players 
come at last, for the plain reason that circum- 
stances alter cases, that whist is full of circum- 
stance, ever-changing, and that judgment must 
determine what shall be done when routine is of 
no avail. 

Let whoso will, take it for granted that English 
opinions are infallible. We remember how they 
have differed with each other • that "J. C," the one 
great player, for a long time refused to lead the 
next to the lowest in a suit of five, and that among 
his last games he insisted upon everybody's leading 
the antepenultimate in a suit of six. He lived 



" 7. C" 249 

long enough to know that his own manner of early- 
play was incorrect, and could he live to-day, he 
would understand that the American game is the 
most informatory of all, and the best adapted to 
the exercise of his brilliant powers. 



POLE. 



" The Theory of the Modern Scientific Game of 
Whist." The title is an ambitious one, and the in- 
troduction full of promise ; but as the written 
definition of a theory of a science or art, unless its 
author indulges in protracted metaphysical treat- 
ment or relentless logical induction, is briefly 
told, we need not be surprised if, in the making of 
a book of an hundred pages upon the principles of 
whist, "the vigor and success of the war have not 
quite come up to the sounding phrase of the mani- 
festo." The "theory" then is not a theory at all, 
but a very excellent development and explanation 
of the practical game of English or Short Whist, 
founded upon the obeyal of two practical rules, 
which are supposed to be of utmost importance to 
the scientific player of that game. Dr. Pole is so 
intent upon the demonstration of his "theory," 
that he lets go by some important matters of 
detail. He recommends leads that are obsolete. 
From k., kn., 8, 4, 3, 2, he counsels leading the 



Pole. 251 

smallest card of the long suit of spades. The cor- 
rect lead from six is the antepenultimate. 

" What should you do," he asks, " when you have 
a partner who does not understand, and consequently 
does not play the scientific game]" 

Teach him as well as you may by your own ex- 
cellent play, or advise him to go and study before 
he attempts to play ; but under no circumstances 
deceive him by trying to make him think that you 
are doing right, when you know that you are doing 
wrong. What should .three gentlemen, about to 
investigate a geometrical, mathematical, or philo- 
sophical problem do, when some one who knows 
little of geometry, mathematics, or philosophy, pro- 
poses to add himself to their number for the pur- 
pose of taking part in their work ? Fearful lest 
he should not understand their correct action, will 
they cast aside plans which they know to be true, 
and practice those which they know to be false ? 
Says Dr. Pole : — 

"Whenever you have five trumps, whatever they 
are, or whatever the other components of your hand, 
you should lead them, for the probability is that three, 
or at least four rounds will exhaust those of the adver- 
saries, and you will still have one or two left to bring 
in your own or your partner's long suit, and to stop 
those of the enemy." 



252 A merican Whist. 

He argues that it is no consequence as to their 
numerical strength, that by this lead you are bene- 
fiting your partner at any rate, and that if you 
are both weak, any other play would probably be 
worse for both. It is a consolation to know, and 
it is easy work to play a game that only asks 
the showing of such knowledge, that your work is 
decided upon in advance, and that in the pursuance 
of directions you can never go wrong. But, unfor- 
tunately for the " theory," the advice in practice is 
gratuitous. You know nothing of your partner's 
hand ; and, despite the already specified necessity 
of combination, you propose to take the whole 
matter into your own control, rid him of his 
trumps, will he, nill he, give him no chance for 
trumping short suits, — the only thing it may be that 
with his hand he could do, — throw away your own 
opportunity of doing the same thing, and assume 
that you are to do him good merely because you 
are not clear that you can do him harm. An 
infinite number of cases can be supposed wherein 
a lead from five small trumps, with no possible 
reason for leading them but that you happen to 
hold them, may deprive him of all the chances 
that he has for usefulness in the hand. Perhaps it 
is not too much to say that in American Whist 
the chances are more than even that you play the 
opponents' same. 



Pole. 253 

The Doctor has great confidence in his " modern 
scientific game," and in his systematic mode of 
teaching it, making us constantly aware of our 
lasting obligations to him for his improvement 
upon predecessors who have only named a practice, 
what he calls a " theory." But if all that he has 
said may be found in " Cavendish's " " Laws and 
Principles," and "J. C.'s" "Treatise," he has 
nevertheless said much of it remarkably well, and 
his peroration, which is much the best thing, aside 
from absolute quotation, in the book, shall be ac- 
cepted as his apology for whatever may be in non- 
conformity with the proper definition of " theory." 

" And lastly, a good player must apply the results 
of his observation, memory, and inference, with 
judgment in his play. This cannot be taught ; it 
must depend entirely upon the individual talent and 
good sense of the player, and the use he makes of 
his experience in the game. This will vary im- 
mensely in different individuals, and the scope for 
individual judgment in play is one of the finest 
features of the game." 

Dr. Pole's order of practice, whatever his theory 
may be, is to play trumps at any rate if you have 
five, that you may disable the adversary early (a 
feat not always accomplished, by the way, when 
five small trumps strive to make such hostile head- 



254 American Whist. 

way), and then to bring in that long suit, also a 
troublesome matter ; vide the overplay of his own 
illustrations, pp. 189, 192 . At the outset you are 
to open from the long suit, if you have not the five 
trumps. You must play from that. You must tell 
your partner that you have more cards of a certain 
suit than you have of any other. Then he must do 
the same thing by you. But we have thought that 
whist was a game for calculation. May we not 
begin to count as early as we can ? Must we do a 
certain quantity of machine work before we assert 
our independence ? " Yes, the fundamental theory 
of whist consists in the fact that two hands must 
be played as one, and that the long-suit play is the 
only play to be adopted. That is the basis of all 
play ; it has been proved to be the best, and the 
best players have so decided." 

There was a reason for such decision. The has- 
tened insight into the partner's hand was required 
to meet the hasty action of a whirling game. The 
sooner that trumps were exhausted from the hands, 
the sooner the one plain suit was turned to account, 
the sooner the honors were discovered, the sooner 
the bets could be paid and the stakes collected. 

There are four ways to lead in whist: from a 
short suit, from a long suit, from master cards, and 
from such card or cards as shall throw the lead. Tt 



Pole. 255 

matters not how early in the hand proper play be- 
gins. Whether it is best to lead the best card or 
the poorest one, the leader in his judgment must 
determine. If a man who would know whist is to 
take his seat at a table to play uniformly one card 
of four or five or six, only because it is one card of 
the larger number, he had best play English Whist. 
It will not matter to him w T hether theory or prac- 
tice is the name given to his code or creed ; he has 
a bounden duty to perform, and nothing can be 
easier than to meet its demand. Calculation for 
him may come by and by. It oan only concern 
some one trick that may eventually be lost or won. 
It will be time enough to take responsibility when 
it is thrust upon him. Meantime he must play two 
hands before he knows what one is, and must not 
place a value upon the only one he sees until he 
has given the ordered information concerning a 
portion of it. He can learn to play fast. And 
beside, — he has chances to talk. 

Dr. Pole has damaged beyond repair his inter- 
esting and useful r6sum6 of whist, by the addition 
of an Appendix, in which he proposes to play as 
badly as he can, for if his partner " fails to draw 
the proper inferences false play will not deceive him, 
and, therefore, so far from being forbidden it is to be 
recommended for its misleading effect upon observ- 



256 American Whist. 

ant opponents." It is hardly possible for an Amer- 
ican whist-player to censure sufficiently such advice 
as that above quoted. The literal interpretation 
is : " My partner does wrong ignorantly, I am there- 
fore justified in doing wrong intentionally ; deceit 
is now the order of my play ; since I cannot gain 
by fair means I will unhesitatingly employ foul 
means." 

We do not propose to take anything into ac- 
count. Tricks made by such play are falsely made ; 
the game is degraded as far as it lies in the power 
of the player to degrade it. If he " has a poor part 
ner," a burlesque of whist is deliberately planned 
and played by a man who was but now the able 
defender of its honesty. The last fourteen pages 
of the prose portion of the book are employed in 
stating that the proper way to play whist is to play 
correctly, while with a " poor partner " the proper 
way is to play incorrectly. It seems strange enough 
that two opponents to the Doctor and " his poor 
partner" (unless they had largely defined their in- 
terest in the game) should take pleasure in a game 
so strangely played. We should like to know in 
what way " poor players " can ever expect to learn 
or to be taught in London if such is the practice of 
good players toward them. It seems a pity that 
Dr. Pole should so far forget the principle for which 



Pole. 257 

he has contended, as to compromise with error for 
the sake of humoring an indifferent player and de- 
ceiving two skilful adversaries. But he advises 
the practice. With Mr. Silas Wegg he " profes- 
sionally declines and falls," and, at the last, affords 
us a novel surprise, when, " as a friend, he drops 
into poetry." 



*7 



WALKER. 



Captain Walker's Catechism, "The Correct 
Card," is reprinted by the Appletons. In the 
Preface of the 1876 edition the Captain expresses 
himself satisfied with his book and the demand 
for it. Then we should be certainly. If people 
like to read questions asked and answers given, 
when in half the time they can read the statement 
made in full, this catechism may " meet a want long 
felt." The plan is as follows : Some one says or 
writes : " Mr. Smith's horse ran swiftly." Captain 
Walker manipulates the information in this wise, 
viz. : — 

Q. What do you call A. A horse, 

the animal belonging to 
Mr. Smith? 

Q. What did the horse A. He ran. 

do? 

Q. What estimate do A. A favorable one, 

you form of the capa- since he ran swiftly, 
bility of Mr. Smith's 
horse for speed? 



Walker. 



259 



Nothing new is offered concerning the game. 
All that the book contains or treats of, and a great 
deal more, is set down in " Cavendish," from whom 
all the ideas emanate that are changed in their 
manner of expression, simply by being rewritten 
in this system of interrogatory and reply. It is 
very much less than some of the abridgments of 
" Cavendish " that are sent into the world by people 
who want to print a book, and have nothing of 
their own to say. 

The author tells us that the catechetical form is 
a novelty in whist, and he runs no risk of being 
disputed. Some of the prolixity about the most 
self-evident facts in whist or nature, is frivolous 
enough to be amusing : — 



Q. Why should any 
one, holding the lead and 
several winning cards, not 
draw a second card out 
of his hand, until his 
partner has played to his 
first trick ? 

Q. May any intimation 
be given by the player as 
to the state of his hand 
or the game 1 

Q. May the question, 
"Who dealt?" be asked? 



A, Because such an act 
is a distinct intimation 
that the former has played 



a winning card. 



A. None whatever. 



A. It is irregular, and, 
if asked, should not be 
answered. 



260 



American Whist. 



A. -No; this should be 
done for his own informa- 
tion only. 



Q. Is it right for a 
player to desire the cards 
to be placed, or to de- 
mand to see the last trick, 
or to ask what the trump 
suit is, in order to invite 
the attention of his part- 
ner? 



Suppose we proceed, on our own account, with a 
little more of this catechetical formula : — 



Q. Why should not A. 
tell B., as soon as A. has 
thrown his card, that he, 
A., holds the ace, which 
he, A., is all ready to play 
next time ] 

Q. May a player tell 
the rest, how the game 
looks to him, so that his 
partner may be encour- 
aged] 

Q. May any one ask 
what is trump, at the 
same time informing his 
partner that, as he has 
none of a certain suit in 
his hand, he naturally 
supposes that suit to be 
trumps ? 



A. Because B. would 
then be likely to under- 
stand what card A. was 
drawing to play. 



A. It would not be 
just the right thing to 
do, and perhaps the ad- 
versaries might object. 

A. It would be out of 
course, and might result 
in injury to the feelings 
of the bystanders, who 
had bets on the game. 



Walker. 261 



Q. Is it proper for a A. Well, no ; he may 
player to speak of a par- look very hard at a cer- 
ticular card on the table tain card for his own 
as a good card to lead, in gratification, but his part- 
order that his partner ner, meanwhile, must re- 
might understand he had gard the ceiling, or make 
best lead one of that suit little memoranda in his 
as soon as he has a chance horse-book, 
to do so 1 

It is, perhaps, needless to add that Captain 
Walker's questions and answers, in the chapter 
of "How to treat a bad partner," do most des- 
perate injustice to the credit of the game of whist, 
inferring and advising the playing of false cards, 
and the practice of deceit in any and all particu- 
lars, closing with the following query and reply, 
which will serve as a key to the whole matter : — 

Q. In fine, then, what A. Judgment and ob- 

is most requisite in play- servation of your part- 
ing with a bad partner] ner's idiosyncrasies, al- 
ways remembering that 
what would be very bad 
play, if you had a good 
partner, may be perfectly 
good play with a bad one. 

None of the books can let the " poor partner's " 
interest slacken, and a whole chapter of this one 



262 American Whist. 

is devoted to questions and answers concerning 
the " bad partner," of which something called the 
" Broad Arrow/' shot from a long bow, is quoted 
among the recommendatory notices as saying : — 

"Every point of the game is very happily touched 
upon, but the chapter on the treatment of a bad partner 
possesses for us peculiar attractions." 

We hope that the "Broad Arrow" succumbed 
to treatment. 

There 'nay be an interest to young people, who 
are still fresh in Colburn's examples, to follow up 
the queries of Captain Walker, if, indeed, they care 
to play Short Whist. So far as American Whist is 
concerned, the book is of no account. For, as it 
deals with " honors," which we do not name, and 
with leads and practices which we do not adopt, it 
seems like a childish form of treating a subject of 
magnitude. -We may be allowed to express surprise 
that, notwithstanding he has devoted twenty or 
more pages to interrogation and answer concerning 
John Loraine Baldwin's chef d'ceuvre, " the Laws 
of Short Whist," which " Cavendish " and all good 
players are desirous to have remodelled, Captain 
Walker did not follow the universal fashion, and 
make his little book a little larger by their bodily 
insertion at the beginning or the close. 



DRAYSON. 



The "Art of Practical Whist," by Colonel A W. 
Drayson, E. A., F. E. A. S., is the title of an Eng- 
lish book on English Whist, published by Eout- 
ledge and Sons, London. This is the only book 
save " Cavendish," published upon whist in Eng- 
land that can lay claim to originality. Clay and 
Pole do but adopt the "Cavendish" plan, present- 
ing neither rule nor method not demonstrated by 
their author-leader. Their books and all the rest 
upon Short Whist issued in England or America, 
unless copies of his work, are but " echoes of his 
call." But this man has ideas. He knows more 
and better whist than many of the rest. His " ex- 
position hath been most sound." His difference 
with the accepted manner of play in England is 
independently and clearly explained. One of the 
first facts that we note concerning the book is, that 
it makes of whist a game to be played for amuse- 
ment and recreation, and not for gambling pur- 



264 American Whist. 

poses. It is evident, to be sure, that Colonel Dray- 
son cannot dispense with the Englishman's passion 
and prerogative to gamble at cards, but he does 
not deface his book with constant allusions to win- 
ning and losing money, and in place of them he 
talks of winning and losing the game. 

"The longer I play whist the more I regret that 
'Kule 91* exists, and that it is at all possible to see 
the cards of a trick turned and quitted." 

That rule is abolished by players of American 
Whist on the ground that the cards must be noted 
and remembered as they fall. 

Colonel Drayson has some keen remarks for the 
determinate " bad card-holders." He says what is 
true, that the claim is ridiculous. When a man 
takes his seat at a whist-table he is to play such 
cards as he receives as well as he may. There are 
no poor hands and no good hands. In every hand 
there is some one good, shrewd play to make; let 
it be to his credit that he makes it. Therein lies 
the game, whether he wins or loses it. The mere 
number of points gained upon a given evening do 
not denote the whist-player. 

" Cavendish " and others insist upon the change 
of the position of the trumps in consecutive hands. 
Such arrangement Drayson considers of no value, 



Dray son. 265 



and it is of none. He dissipates the inflamed 
rhetoric about the " grand coup," by simply stat- 
ing the fact that it only consists in throwing the 
lead. A dozen instances of fine play occur at 
many a sitting that are grander coups than the 
mere taking of a partner's trick and returning a 
proper card, or throwing away of a useless trump. 
The rule of the orthodox players, "Do not force 
your partner if you are weak in trumps," Colonel 
Drayson explodes : — 

" So you would not allow me to make a trick in 
trumps because you, my partner, are weak in them?" 

The intent of playing the game is to make the 
tricks, and if a single trick more can be made by 
forcing, which otherwise could not be made, it 
matters not whether the forcer holds one trump 
or five. 

The chapter upon false cards, and the argument 
for their play as opposed to the book-players, is not 
as ingeniously written as are some other parts of 
this most interesting book, but it evinces inde- 
pendent play, and helps to carry out Colonel Dray- 
son's general argument, that whist must be played 
with consummate judgment ; that rules may be too 
exacting for the display of brilliant and effective 



266 A merican Whist. 

play, and that a player must take position and hold 
it, for the elicitation of all points to be gained in 
each and every hand by himself and his partner. 

The prejudices in behalf of what a foreign club 
may do, take hold more firmly upon some of the 
players of whist in America than upon certain of 
its own members, who, discerning evils, in place 
of espousing them for no other reason than be- 
cause an English Club proposed or indorsed them, 
dare publicly denounce their folly. Colonel Dray- 
son has shown that in many respects the accepted 
notions of Short Whist are incorrect, and his long 
acquaintance with the game and its players may 
be mentioned when we cite him as authority. 

The independence that he manifests in the as- 
sertion of his own style of play and action, whether 
it meets with favor or not in the opinion of others 
justifies more than any issue of the London press, 
a candid opposition to set rules which certair 
clubs have seen fit to adopt. And in. the light of 
a treatise so fair, it seems proper to present, with 
hope for their generous reception, opinions which 
have been disregarded by the acceptors of an arbi- 
trary code. 

" However thoroughly you may know the rules or 
leads, or which card to play second or third in hand, 
yet you can never by book knowledge do away with 



Dray son. 267 



the necessity for judgment under almost every condi- 
tion of the game, the lead, etc. This is what makes 
whist the fascinating study that it proves to be, and 
gives to the intelligent player an advantage over the 
mere book student. The game of an intelligent whist- 
player differs more from the mechanical game of the mere 
hook-player than does the pianoforte performance of a 
skilled musician from the music ground out by a hand- 
organ." 

If such language as this is proper having refer- 
ence to Short Whist with its broad opportunity of 
chance, and contracted opportunity of skill, shall 
it not be applied with peculiar emphasis to the 
American game, which in its latitude for the exer- 
cise of judgment so far out-ranks the foreign one ? 

Colonel Drayson's innovations upon radical habit 
of play are among the first that have been daringly 
stated by an English writer, and come as welcome 
and fresh to proper players as did the concession 
of James Clay concerning the "Cavendish" penul- 
timate, to the members of the Arlington and Port- 
land. There are fewer long-drawn lessons to poor 
players than appear in most of the published books 
upon whist, and this one would be much better if 
no allusion was made to them. The art of practi- 
cal whist in its direction and adaptation, concerns 
only good players. What poor players would or 
would not do has no place. It is for them to learn 



268 American Whist. 



what is right and to practice that. How absurd it 
would seem in a treatise upon architecture to meet 
with constant interpolations as to the manner in 
which an unskilled carpenter would erect a temple, 
together with constantly reiterated recommenda- 
tions to master builders to forsake their truthful 
plans because the novitiate workman was unable 
to comprehend them ! 

If it shall ever be that the author of the "Art of 
Practical Whist " may read this notice, we append 
for him congratulations upon his just and inde- 
pendent course, and assure him that there are 
whist-players in this country, whose number is 
rapidly increasing, who are sufficiently advanced 
to play « by reason and not by rule ; " and some of 
them would be happy to give him ■ the option of 
making a small trump " in the standard American 
game, which is worthy of his most distinguished 
consideration. 



University Press : John Wilson & Son, Cambridge. 



